Introduction
This month as we usher in the day of Thanksgiving, I have been reading daily expressions of gratitude from friends and family. In the same style of the Advent calendar for Christmas, each day I open the door to read messages of thanks like: Day 1: “I am thankful for health and family.” Day 11: “I am thankful for the veterans and armed forces who protect our freedoms”, and so on and so forth. A friend even encouraged me to join in the festivities of daily expressions of gratitude. While my initial reaction was to be a Scrooge, I knew deep down inside I have much to be thankful for. I thought I could sneak through the month as a “persona non grateful”. Somehow, God knew I needed to publicly express my thanks and granted me the blessing to speak before you today. Day 24: “I am thankful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and for the blessings we receive because of it.”
Atonement
As used in the scriptures, to atone is to suffer the penalty for sins, thereby removing the effects of sin from the repentant sinner and allowing him or her to be reconciled to God. Jesus Christ was the only one capable of carrying out the Atonement for all mankind. Because of His Atonement, all people will be resurrected, and those who obey His gospel will receive the gift of eternal life with God. We have hope through the Atonement of Christ to be raised unto life eternal.
Jesus's atoning sacrifice took place in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross at Calvary. In Gethsemane He submitted to the will of the Father and began to take upon Himself the sins of all people. The Savior continued to suffer for our sins when He allowed Himself to be crucified—“lifted up upon the cross and slain for the sins of the world” (1 Nephi 11:33).
Jesus Christ redeems all people from the effects of the Fall [of Adam and Eve]. All people who have ever lived on the earth and who ever will live on the earth will be resurrected and brought back into the presence of God to be judged (see 2 Nephi 2:5-10; Helaman 14:15-17). Through the Savior's gift of mercy and redeeming grace, we will all receive the gift of immortality and live forever in glorified, resurrected bodies.
The Atonement of the Savior is the greatest event in history. President Gordon B. Hinckley declared: “No other act in all of human history compares with it. Nothing that has ever happened can match it. Totally unselfish and with unbounded love for all mankind, it became an unparalleled act of mercy for the whole human race.”
Gratitude for the Atonement
Gratitude is a feeling of appreciation and thankfulness for blessings or benefits we have received. As we cultivate a grateful attitude, we are more likely to be happy and spiritually strong. We should regularly express our gratitude to God for the blessings He gives us and to others for the kind acts they do for us.
If we understood the great love the Savior had for us when He atoned for our sins, we would always love Him, be grateful to Him, and keep His commandments.
As President Joseph Fielding Smith (1876–1972) observed:
“One of the greatest sins, both in magnitude and extent … is the sin of ingratitude. When we violate a commandment, no matter how small and insignificant we may think it to be, we show our ingratitude to our Redeemer. It is impossible for us to comprehend the extent of his suffering when he carried the burden of the sins of the whole world, a punishment so severe that we are informed that blood came from the pores of his body, and this was before he was taken to the cross. The punishment of physical pain coming from the nails driven in his hands and feet, was not the greatest of his suffering, excruciating as that surely was. The greater suffering was the spiritual and mental anguish coming from the load of our transgressions which he carried. If we understood the extent of that suffering and his suffering on the cross, surely none of us would willfully be guilty of sin. We would not give way to the temptations, the gratification of unholy appetites and desires and Satan could find no place in our hearts. As it is, whenever we sin, we show our ingratitude and disregard of the suffering of the Son of God by and through which we shall rise from the dead and live forever. If we really understood and could feel even to a small degree, the love and gracious willingness on the part of Jesus Christ to suffer for our sins we would be willing to repent of all our transgressions and serve him.”
The Virtues of the Atonement
As there is an opposition in all things, ingratitude is gratitude’s opposite. Gratitude is to Ingratitude as Humility is to Pride and as Selflessness is to Selfishness. As we choose to disobey our Heavenly Father’s commandments, we increase our ingratitude for the Savior’s Atonement. As we choose to ignore the mercy of the Savior’s sacrifice and boast of our own feats and fortune, we increase our pride. Pride became the downfall of the Nephites. Beware of ingratitude, pride, and selfishness. Because the Atonement enacted for us mercy, redemption, and eternal life, we are blessed with the desire to put into living practice the virtues of gratitude, humility, and selflessness.
Gratitude as a Virtue
Jesus taught about the virtue of gratitude through the account of His service to the ten lepers. In the book of Luke, chapter 17, we read:
Luke 17:12-19
12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:
13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,
16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.
17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.
19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
President Thomas S. Monson taught:
“Through divine intervention, those who were lepers were spared from a cruel, lingering death and given a new lease on life. The expressed gratitude by one merited the Master’s blessing, the ingratitude shown by the nine His disappointment.”
Again, our living prophet warns of the undesirable effects of ingratitude:
“Like the leprosy of yesteryear are the plagues of today. They linger; they debilitate; they destroy. They are to be found everywhere. Their pervasiveness knows no boundaries. We know them as selfishness, greed, indulgence, cruelty, and crime, to identify but a few. Surfeited with their poison, we tend to criticize, to complain, to blame, and, slowly but surely, to abandon the positives and adopt the negatives of life.
We can lift ourselves, and others as well, when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues.”
Humility as a Virtue
The sermon of the unprofitable servant teaches humility as a virtue. King Benjamin in the Book of Mosiah depicts the ultimate example of humility:
Mosiah 2:20-22
20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—
21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.
22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.
We are truly humbled when we realize just how much God has blessed us and yet how little He requires of us.
Increase Gratitude for the Atonement
How do we increase our gratitude for the Atonement? Through daily prayer, repentance, and the partaking of the sacrament.
Gratitude may be increased by constantly reflecting on our blessings and giving thanks for them in our daily prayers. A constant expression of gratitude [for the Atonement] should be included in all our prayers. Often in our prayers we ask for specific blessings on the behalf of others which reflects our selflessness. We also show humility when we pray as we ask God for forgiveness and repent of our sins.
Through repentance we can apply the Atonement in our lives as we become humbled, seek cleanliness, and receive forgiveness for our sins. Repentance is more than simply acknowledging wrongdoings. It is a change of mind and heart. It includes turning away from sin and turning to God for forgiveness. It is motivated by love for God and the sincere desire to obey His commandments. Repentance not only helps us to feel good from within, but it empowers us to do good unto others around us and to see the good in all things God has granted us.
When we partake of the sacrament, we reflect on our Elder Brother’s atoning sacrifice. The sacred ordinance of the blessing of the bread and water symbolize the shedding of Christ’s flesh and blood. The sacrament allows us to renew our baptismal covenants and become clean. We cannot be saved nor become perfected without it.
How do we increase our gratitude for the Atonement? Through daily prayer, repentance, and the partaking of the sacrament.
Gratitude may be increased by constantly reflecting on our blessings and giving thanks for them in our daily prayers. A constant expression of gratitude [for the Atonement] should be included in all our prayers. Often in our prayers we ask for specific blessings on the behalf of others which reflects our selflessness. We also show humility when we pray as we ask God for forgiveness and repent of our sins.
Through repentance we can apply the Atonement in our lives as we become humbled, seek cleanliness, and receive forgiveness for our sins. Repentance is more than simply acknowledging wrongdoings. It is a change of mind and heart. It includes turning away from sin and turning to God for forgiveness. It is motivated by love for God and the sincere desire to obey His commandments. Repentance not only helps us to feel good from within, but it empowers us to do good unto others around us and to see the good in all things God has granted us.
When we partake of the sacrament, we reflect on our Elder Brother’s atoning sacrifice. The sacred ordinance of the blessing of the bread and water symbolize the shedding of Christ’s flesh and blood. The sacrament allows us to renew our baptismal covenants and become clean. We cannot be saved nor become perfected without it.
Conclusion
We should thank our Heavenly Father for His Plan of Salvation and for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We should practice the virtues of the Atonement by showing gratitude, humility, and selflessness. To show gratitude to our Heavenly Father, we acknowledge His hand in all things, thank Him for all that He gives us, keep His commandments, and serve others. We can increase our gratitude through daily prayer, repentance, and partaking of the sacrament. When we pray to Our Heavenly Father, we should especially thank Him for His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, for the Savior's great example, for His teachings, for His outreaching hand to lift and help, for His infinite Atonement. May we always be grateful for this wonderful gift, the Atonement of the Son of God, our Savior and Redeemer. [Amen]
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