And I Have Loved You--

I bore my testimony on Fast Sunday and said something like the following:

Sometimes when I think about Christ's Atonement, I like to tell myself that my sins that the Savior paid for are not very large in comparison with the sins of rapists or serial killers, of Hitler or Stalin.  Surely my little sins of pride and selfishness and criticism wouldn't have caused the Savior the agony that he had to go through for other, more serious crimes.

And then I have to stop and have a talk with myself.  Because by allowing myself to hold on to those sins, by protecting them and forgiving myself so easily for them, I am interfering with my eternal progression.  I am stalled at a certain level with no hope of becoming more like Christ.

Since that Sunday, I've thought more about the subject, and realized that holding on to my sins is even more serious than I realized that day.  Those sins are actually very serious, as shown by reading Alma's sermon to the people of Zarahemla. 
Alma 5:27  Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God?  Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble?  That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?
28  Behold, are ye stripped of pride?  I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God.  Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath not eternal life.
29  Behold, I say, is there one among you who is not stripped of envy?  I say unto you that such an one is not prepared; and I would that he should prepare quickly, for the hour is close at hand, and he knoweth not when the time shall come; for such an one is not found guiltless.
30  And again I say unto you, is there one among you that doth make a mock of his brother, or that heapeth upon him persecutions?
31  Wo unto such an one, for he is not prepared, and the time is at hand that he must repent or he cannot be saved!
32  Yea, even wo unto all ye workers of iniquity; repent, repent, for the Lord God hath spoken it!

Alma is very plain here that the sins of pride, envy, mocking (criticizing) others are extremely serious and need to be repented of.  And the Education Week presentation of Brother Goodman makes it clear that repentance is an important part of making the Atonement active in my life.

Then I ran across this scripture in my reading: 
Doctrine and Covenants 95:1  VERILY, thus saith the Lord unto you whom I love, and whom I love I also chasten that their sins may be forgiven, for with the chastisement I prepare a way for their deliverance in all things out of temptation, and I have loved you—

Because He loves me, He will chastise me and show me what I need to do to repent.  He will even prepare a way for me to be delivered from temptation if I will do my part and do my best to repent of those things that I've been keeping back from Him.   That's really important.