Planning to sin and then repent is an affront to the Savior because it assumes that we control our own forgiveness. While we must do all we can do to be worthy of Christ’s grace, we cannot turn that miraculous power on and off like a water faucet. He loves us no matter what we do, but he forgives only the honest in heart—and on his terms, not on ours. Because we lack the power to compensate fully for the effects of our sins, we are utterly dependent on Jesus Christ. Without his holy atonement, no amount of agonizing repentance could return us to God’s presence. We dare not trifle with so sacred a reality. But the Good News is, when we do fully repent in the honesty of a broken heart and contrite spirit—no seeming, no pretending—he will do all the rest. Thank God, literally, that is under his control, not ours; for only he has enough power to make our scarlet sins be white as snow.
—Marie K. Hafen, “It Is Time to ‘Get Real,'” Devotional Address, May 9, 1995
web: The full text of this address is available at speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=7814. See speeches.byu.edu for other speeches given at BYU.
Speaker's Notes