The Atonement of Christ

Mark 14

38 Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.

       I think it’s difficult for us to comprehend what Jesus Christ went through in the Garden of Gethsemane. Words such as, sorrowful, very heavy, exceedingly sorrowful, agony, and pain as described in the bible don’t even measure up to what he felt.

            We can say how much pain he was in, but none of us will ever know the true measure of what he felt that day. Imagine your greatest pain, your weakest moment, your greatest sorrow, shame, and multiply that by billions, (every person who’s ever lived) and there you have it. We can’t fathom it.

 44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

        “Christ’s agony in the garden is unfathomable by the finite mind, both as to intensity and cause.

            It was not physical pain, nor mental anguish alone, that caused Him to suffer such torture as to produce an extrusion of blood from every pore; but a spiritual agony of soul such as only God was capable of experiencing. No other man, however great his powers of physical or mental endurance, could have suffered so; for his human organism would have succumbed, and syncope would have produced unconsciousness and welcome oblivion. In that hour of anguish Christ met and overcame all the horrors that Satan, ‘the prince of this world’ could inflict.” (Talmage, Jesus the Christ, p. 613.)

        Christ talks about the bitter cup, as told by Matthew, Mark, and Luke

 Matthew 26:39 O my father if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt

          The pain is so great he asks for a way out if it’s possible, but he will do as His father commands. Which was to follow through and drink the bitter cup (the atonement) endure the pain and suffering for the sins of the world.

            “Jesus said, ‘If it be possible, let this cup pass.’ But it was not possible; for to have done so would have been a violation of the law, and he had to take it. The atonement must be made, a God must be sacrificed. No power can resist a law of God. It is omnipresent, omnipotent, exists everywhere, in all things. …” (Taylor, The Mediation and Atonement, pp. 168–69.)

                 As I look more into this, it gives me a better appreciation of what he suffered. I still have no clue the amount of pain he went through but I am grateful that he is such a great man. I know he loves me, and that he’s helped me through some hard times. 

   It helps to know that there is someone, Christ, who has felt exactly what we have. When we need someone to turn to, we should fall to our knees and ask for help from the One who knows. He sees and knows our pain and joys, he hears our pleas and a gratitude. If ever there was a person to understand us it’s Him, the savior of the world, our brother, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Never will He forsake us, never will He let us down, and it’s my hope that we will turn to Him and return his graciousness by not letting Him down.

The Dream

By Janie Hannan-Kearl

A smile is what he offered

a kind word is what he shared

Maybe he’s an angel sent here

to save me from being scared

Sometimes life is a dark road to go alone

maybe God knew I was close to being gone

the angel said; "its never too late

my dear, you haven’t yet sealed your fate"

The kind man told me, “don’t give up

You are never all alone

smile even when its hard

prayer is the answer to bring you home.”

Sometimes life is a dark road to travel alone

maybe God knew I was close to gone

the angel said; "its never too late

my dear, you haven’t yet sealed your fate"

He smiled, pulling me to a close embrace;

“forgive yourself, for I forgave thee,

I am no mere angel

I am Jesus Christ, here eternally.”

I woke with a smile, knowing this was more than a dream

The weight of guilt I carried so long was finally gone

Life is a dark road to go alone

God knew I was close to gone

He sent Him here to my dreams

to prove life isn’t lost as it seems

Leadership

Christ taught of Leadership

            Christ is the best example of a leader any of us could ever ask for. He never acted as though he was better than anyone even though he was. He washed the feet of his disciples to show them how a good leader should be. This simple act of service was huge to them. He willingly suffered the worst pain imaginable for our sins. He let himself be hung on a cross for us, as a leader.

            I don’t expect any of us to die for someone but we can show simple acts of service. Our leadership in the LDS church helps with service all the time. No one in our church is a paid. It’s all voluntary. Many churches pay their Bishops and priests, that is their career, but as part of the LDS church authority goes everyone is a volunteer, from the prophet on down the primary teachers in individual wards. Bishops spend countless hours helping others and leading their people and all out of the goodness of their hearts.

Mark 10:43-45

 43 But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister:

 44 And whosoever of you will be the cheifest, shall be servant of all.

 45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

I loved verse 45. Even the Son of man came to be a minister and to give his life

If we are striving to be like him we could think of it as this: every son and daughter of man came to be a minister. That’s us!

We may not be out performing miracles and bringing people back from the dead as Christ did but we can tell of the Him when the opportunity arises. We don’t have to even invite someone to church, even an act of kindness can be the start. Something as simple as a card on Christmas or helping a neighbor with yard work. Sometimes it takes just talking about Christ. I was watching this video about the t.v. show Duck Dynasty, (I know seems off topic but it’s not) and I don’t even watch this show, but it was all about how the father, had gotten into drugs and alcohol and he was losing his family. His wife and two young boys didn’t like who he had become and one day he sat down he said he just couldn’t take it anymore. His wife told him to talk to a man in town so he did. The man told him all about Jesus Christ and that he had suffered and died for our sins. He had never heard this before. He totally changed his life, it’s such a great story.

            But maybe one day we can be that person, the one who tells about Christ and helps change someone’s life. Here is the link to the video just in case someone wanted to watch it.

http://www.iamsecond.com/seconds/the-robertsons/