Today’s Reading Alma 25- 26: 1-5

13 …many of them came over to dwell in the land of Ishmael and the land of Nephi, and did join themselves to the people of God, who were the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi.

14 And they did also bury their weapons of war, according as their brethren had, and they began to be a righteous people; and they did walk in the ways of the Lord, and did observe to keep his commandments and his statutes.

I love that a once wicked people repented.  It reminds me of… me.  Hopefully I was never completely wicked but I’ve had times in my life where Heaven seemed far away.  Times where I lost sight of who I was and where I was going; when I forgot about my covenant to represent my Savior.  I am not alone either:

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (i)

Thankfully, joy comes in the morning.  At least mornings after repentance has been offered and grace takes over.

Unfortunately, no matter how much we don’t want to, we all sin.  A sin the Lamanites had was killing.  They grew up knowing warfare and it was a way of life, but when they came to understand that they had need of repentance and gained true Godly sorrow, they buried their weapons of war.  The act of burying their weapons literally put their lives in danger.  In fact, some of the anti-nephi-lehi’s did indeed prostrate themselves on the ground and refuse to fight as they were slaughtered.  Surely, this was a testimony of their complete change of heart and full repentance.

Burying Sin

How do we do that?  How do we experience a complete change of heart and bury our sins deep in the earth?  For the most part, our hearts are not blood thirsty today, but we are not exempt from needing repentance.  Our society provides ample availability to sin.  A few examples of people in my life who are working on burying sin looks like this:

• A loved family member of mine replaced her Facebook app with a scripture app on her phone.

• A dear friend attended Addiction Recovery meetings and is learning how to handle her addiction to prescription medicine.

• Someone I care about learned to use virtue to overcome a pornography addiction.

• A couple I know went from the brink of bankruptcy to a frugal lifestyle.

• A young man I am close to went from immoral behavior to preaching repentance.

The list can go on and on.  It is such a relief to become clean.  We don’t always feel the weight of sin when we are in the trenches, however, it is obvious in hindsight.  Burying sin offers a lighter load and a mind filled with peace. Through repentance, we go from walking a lonely path to sharing the yoke of the Savior, which is light. (ii)  It offers a way back to the presence of Heavenly Father and the potential for exaltation.