Rules are great and terrible, depends on which side you are on. They are important to keep us safe, and they allow us to grow. What happens if rules are established that we can't possibly live up to? We are all found in this predicament. The rules are the rules of Heaven. We all agreed to live them before we even came to earth, so that we could have a chance to progress. The problem is that in order to succeed we have to be perfect. If we can't do it, how can it be paid in full? I was reading through some old Ensigns the other night, one talk really caught my attention. I have included a quote from it. The talk is from James E. Faust. It's title is, The Atonement: Our Greatest Hope. This part really stuck out to me:
"Some years ago, President Gordon B. Hinckley told “something of a parable” about “a one room school house in the mountains of Virginia where the boys were so rough no teacher had been able to handle them.
“Then one day an inexperienced young teacher applied. He was told that every teacher had received an awful beating, but the teacher accepted the risk. The first day of school the teacher asked the boys to establish their own rules and the penalty for breaking the rules. The class came up with 10 rules, which were written on the blackboard. Then the teacher asked, ‘What shall we do with one who breaks the rules?’
“‘Beat him across the back ten times without his coat on,’ came the response.
“A day or so later, … the lunch of a big student, named Tom, was stolen. ‘The thief was located—a little hungry fellow, about ten years old.’
“As Little Jim came up to take his licking, he pleaded to keep his coat on. ‘Take your coat off,’ the teacher said. ‘You helped make the rules!’
“The boy took off the coat. He had no shirt and revealed a bony little crippled body. As the teacher hesitated with the rod, Big Tom jumped to his feet and volunteered to take the boy’s licking.
“‘Very well, there is a certain law that one can become a substitute for another. Are you all agreed?’ the teacher asked.
“After five strokes across Tom’s back, the rod broke. The class was sobbing. ‘Little Jim had reached up and caught Tom with both arms around his neck. “Tom, I’m sorry that I stole your lunch, but I was awful hungry. Tom, I will love you till I die for taking my licking for me! Yes, I will love you forever!”’”
President Hinckley then quoted Isaiah:
“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. …“… He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” "
This really stuck out to me. I know that the rules of Heaven are set very high, even perfection. I know that we can't be perfect on our own. This truth makes it so that none of us can make it back by ourselves. This is where the mediator steps in, even Jesus Christ. He did something we could not. He broke the bands of imperfection. Though him, we can rise and be perfected. Then we, like the little boy, can look up into our Savior's eyes and say, "Jesus, I’m sorry that I was imperfect, and I did dumb things. Jesus, I will love you till I die for taking my licking for me! Yes, I will love you forever!" I testify that this is real!
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