The Atonement of Jesus Christ.
I've had a question travel through my head several times over the past few months. That question is:
"What exactly do I believe about Jesus Christ, and what scriptural backing is there behind those beliefs?"
My thoughts around this question focus on a particular aspect of my beliefs about our Savior: the ever-important night in the Garden of Gethsemane. I've always been taught that Christ has a perfect understanding of everything we go through in life, not just the things related to sin but also every pain of spirit, body, heart, and mind that we experience here on earth. This belief has been my lighthouse in the fog of life, my anchor in storms of doubt and worry. He understands my heartbreak. He has felt my anxieties. He knows what I go through in the times I feel alone, unimportant, unqualified, or unloved. He even understands the more petty things like jealousy or boredom, and the more temporary things (a.k.a things that only apply to this mortal life) like financial worry, career choices, and even meal planning.
I could not function in life without the knowledge that Christ knows how I feel in all of my circumstances and emotions. I've taken comfort in this belief since I started learning of Christ and praying with Him in my mind and heart when I was around 6 years old. But, in Sunday School a few weeks ago, the thought came to mind that my understanding is that Christ's ability to have this perfect empathy is because of what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane, and that the actual accounts of the Garden in the New Testament don't substantiate that belief. This was a huge challenge for me, because it meant that my core beliefs about how Christ is involved in my life don't have a scriptural source. That the testimony I've held on to came merely by word of mouth from parents and teachers.
But that couldn't be right. I was sure I had found scriptures that resonate with what I have felt since I can remember. I thought about this on and off in the following weeks, but never felt directed to any particular scriptures. Or, rather, any scriptures I turned to didn't seem to have the content I wanted. Any time the Garden of Gethsemane or the Atonement has been brought up recently, I've felt a twinge of worry and doubt cross my heart. However, I've also felt an excitement and determination to learn more. This past Friday as I opened up my "Come, Follow Me" study guide, I was thrilled to see this week's study topic: "Not as I will, but as Thou wilt." It was about Christ's experience in the Garden! I delved into the contents of the lesson and found scriptures that brought solace to my soul and joy to my heart. I want to record those scriptures and thoughts here, so that I can refer back to them when I need them, but also in hopes that they can help someone else understand more about our Savior, Jesus Christ, too:
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows (Isaiah 3:4)
He shall suffer temptations and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer (Mosiah 3:7)
And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. (Alma 7:11-12)
The Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee (1 Chronicles, 28:9)
This is not the first time I've read these phrases. In fact, many of them were already marked in my scriptures. It is, however, the first time they resonated with me in the way they did this week. These were the answers I had been searching for. Our Savior truly knows us. He understands everything we go through. He knows how to comfort and guide us because He has experienced it all "according to the flesh" (a.k.a in the exact same way we do).
He wants us to live our lives in the most fulfilling way possible. He promises us: "I am come that they might have life, and they they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). Or, if we adjust those words to have a more personal tone:
I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly.
Connecting these scriptures to the questions I've had in my mind these past few months has given me a new understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I will not pretend I understand it in its entirety, but my beliefs have certainly been strengthened, as has my resolve to intentionally include Christ in my life from day to day. I hope you feel the same result from pondering with me.
