“The Miracle We Need Every Day,” For the Strength of Youth, Mar. 2024.
Strength to Overcome Sin
The Miracle We Need Every Day
If God loves us, why does He ask us to change and repent? Here are some truths about sin and Jesus Christ’s atoning sacrifice.
Illustration by Adam Howling
What if you could witness the miracles Jesus Christ performed during His life on earth? Watch Him heal the sick and raise the dead? Even though we can’t go back in time to see those miracles, there is one of Jesus Christ’s miracles we can see every day. And it’s one of the most important of all: He overcame sin.
The Truth about Sin
Some may wonder why that’s such a big deal. After all, even if we do make a mistake here and there, God still loves us, right? Well, yes, both Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us deeply. But because They love us so much, there’s more to the story.
When He visited the Nephites, the Savior taught us why overcoming sin is so important: “No unclean thing can enter into [God’s] kingdom” (3 Nephi 27:19).
He didn’t say “no unclean thing except a few little mistakes.” He taught that any kind of sin (willfully disobeying God’s commandments) prevents us from living with Him again.
That’s a problem. We can’t perfectly follow God’s commandments yet. This is true for all people—the most righteous prophet, the most wicked sinner, and everyone in between. Since we can’t erase our mistakes on our own, sin would prevent us from entering God’s kingdom.
The Miracle of Christ’s Atonement
Gratefully, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ knew we needed help. In the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross, Jesus Christ took upon Himself all our pains, sicknesses, afflictions, infirmities, and sins (see Alma 7:11–13). Because He was both the perfect Son of God and the mortal son of Mary, He could pay the price of sin that no one else could pay.
That’s why He could say to the Nephites, “Therefore nothing entereth into [God’s] rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end” (3 Nephi 27:19).
What a miracle that because of Jesus Christ, we can be cleansed of our sins! Once we recognize that the Savior’s atoning sacrifice is necessary for us, we can rely on His strength as we have faith in Him, repent of our sins, and continue to follow Him in faithfulness to the end. It’s a miracle that can happen every day as you trust His power and act in faith!