Written In Our Hearts

I have thought a lot about Jeffrey R. Holland's quote I used to end the last blog, "After an encounter with the living Son of the living God, nothing is ever again to be as it was before. The Crucifixion, Atonement, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ mark the beginning of a Christian life, not the end of it."

So how do we have "an encounter with the living Son of the living God"? The scriptures teach us about those who had encounters with the Savior during His earthly ministry. As Jesus walked the roads of Palestine, He healed the sick, the lame, the deaf and the blind. He even raised the dead. While there were many who believed and became followers, there were those who, though witnesses to these miracles, did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God. We may wonder how seeing did not make them believe. But seeing doesn't produce believers, faith does. Do we fail to see the miracles in our own lives? Through His infinite Atonement, He still can heal us if we will but believe. Through the Atonement, we have the power to change. However lame our walk may be, however blinded by the world or deaf to spiritual things we may have become, by relying upon the power of the Atonement, we can be made whole. Even the spiritually dead can find new life because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ if we will believe.

I wonder if we grasp the importance of believing, the power of believing. A few weeks ago, I read the last talk Bruce R. McConkie gave in general conference, just two weeks before his passing. I was moved to tears, as I am each time I read his testimony. I remembered so vividly when I heard him bear that testimony. The Spirit bore witness to me of the truth of it. Last week as I read this month's Ensign, there was his testimony again. Today in church, we sang the hymn "I Believe in Christ," Elder McConkie's testimony. As I sang those words, I came to understand in a deeper way the importance of believing!

When we believe, we turn our faith into action.

In her first talk as the newly-called Relief Society General President, Linda K. Burton posed this question, "Is faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ written in our hearts?" She explained that when we understand the doctrine of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, "our faith will increase, as will our desire to live righteously." That is action! She also encouraged us to cheerfully cleave to our covenants, that "making, keeping, and rejoicing in our covenants will be the evidence that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is truly written in our hearts." The following year, Sister Burton said, "Covenant keeping is one way to express our love for the incomprehensible, infinite Atonement of our Savior and Redeemer and the perfect love of our Father in Heaven." Covenant keeping is action!

Russell M. Nelson once said, "The greatest compliment that can be earned here in this life is to be known as a covenant keeper. The rewards for a covenant keeper will be realized both here and hereafter."

One of the covenants we make with Heavenly Father is at baptism. Each week, we renew those baptismal covenants through the ordinance of the sacrament. On the eve of His Crucifixion, the Savior instituted the sacrament as a reminder of His great atoning sacrifice. Is it any wonder that we have been reminded so often of the importance of the Sabbath Day, and especially the sacrament? Henry B. Eyring said, "The Lord's purpose is not simply to have people partake of bread and water. It is to have them keep a covenant that will move them along the path to eternal life."

In October 2014, James J. Hamula's general conference talk helped me gain a deeper reverence for the sacrament and the Atonement. He taught, "The ordinance of the sacrament has been called 'one of the most holy and sacred ordinances in the Church.' It needs to become more holy and sacred to each of us. Jesus Christ Himself instituted the ordinance to remind us what He did to redeem us and to teach us how we may avail ourselves of His Redemption and thereby live with God again."

The sacrament is a weekly physical reminder of the infinite and eternal Atonement.

Elder Hamula also said, "The most important event in time and eternity is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He who accomplished the Atonement has given us the ordinance of the sacrament to help us not only remember but also claim the blessings of this supreme act of grace. Regular and earnest participation in this sacred ordinance helps us continue to embrace and live the doctrine of Christ after baptism and thereby pursue and complete the process of sanctification. Indeed, the ordinance of the sacrament helps us faithfully endure to the end and receive the fulness of the Father in the same way Jesus did, grace for grace."

Participation, embrace, live, pursue, complete, endure and receive - once again, all these require action!

When faith in the Atonement is written in our hearts, the sacrament will have deeper meaning and greater significance in our lives.

Of the Atonement of Jesus Christ President Gordon B. Hinckley said, "When all is said and done, when all of history is examined, when the deepest depths of the human mind have been explored, there is nothing so wonderful, so majestic, so tremendous as this act of grace."

In his book "The Infinite Atonement," Tad R. Callister states: "The atonement is not a doctrine that lends itself to some singular approach, like a universal formula. It must be felt, not just 'figured'; internalized, not just analyzed. The pursuit of this doctrine requires the total person, for the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the most supernal, mind-expanding, passionate doctrine this world or universe will ever know."

When we feel and internalize the Atonement, both the Atonement and the sacrament will have deeper meaning and significance in our lives. And nothing is ever again to be as it was before.

I conclude with Elder Bruce R. McConkie's final testimony.

"I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears. But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God’s Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way."