Jacob 2

(February 13, 2015)

                There is an interesting balance that exists in the understanding of sin.  On the one hand, it is clear that even one sin is capable of irrevocably separating us from our Father – ating us from our Father -- from our Father -- we must be perfect to return to Him.   it is clear that even one sin is capa we must be perfect to return to Him.  On the other hand, there are clearly sins that have the capacity to draw us away from God (or separate us from His presence) faster than others.  We intuitively seem to understand that, but it was interesting to see Jacob confirm it.

                Thus, there is the sin of pride (which President Benson made clear was a significant sin), and yet Jacob would be content if he was only obligated to bring up the issue of pride rather than needing to deal with the weightier issues of violations of the law of chastity.

                I think the thing that we need to keep in mind individually is that the judgment of the weight of various sins in not ours to make.  Jacob was a spiritual leader of his people at this point – we are not.  Instead we need to look inward and recognize our own weaknesses rather than dwelling on the weaknesses of others.  And we need to know that in our personal lives no matter how far gone we are we are never too far gone and no matter how righteous we may think we are we are still fully dependent on the Lord.