The Atonement of Jesus Christ

 In the Book of Mormon in Alma chapter 5 Alma is speaking to members of the church in Zarahemla. He says:

19 I say unto you, can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances?

21 I say unto you, ye will know at that day that ye cannot be saved; for there can no man be saved except his garments are washed white; yea, his garments must be purified until they are cleansed from all stain, through the blood of him of whom it has been spoken by our fathers, who should come to redeem his people from their sins. 

22 And now I ask of you, my brethren, how will any of you feel, if ye shall stand before the bar of God, having your garments stained with blood and all manner of filthiness? Behold, what will these things testify against you?

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?

After reading these verses and picture came to my mind:

 Imagine yourself in the temple. You are sitting, waiting to go into the Celestial room where you will have the opportunity to meet the Savior, Jesus Christ. You have dressed in the most beautiful white dress possible and have dressed very carefully for this special time. As you are waiting you look down lovingly at your dress and find to your horror that it has somehow been soiled with big spots of mud. You desperately try to rub the mud off but it only gets ground deeper into the fibers of the dress and all your actions seem to make the mud spots worse. Tears sting your eyes and you want to run and hide. You don’t want them to call your name when it is your turn to meet the Savior.

Your name is called and slowly, reluctantly, and shamefully you enter the room. The tears are freely flowing down your face and your eyes are downcast. You can’t bring yourself to look into the eyes of the Savior. Gently and lovingly the Savior lifts your chin and kindly looks into your eyes. His hand softly touches the soiled places on your dress and where the mud spots used to be a brilliant white fabric is seen. Your dress has “ been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ.”

The atonement of Jesus Christ gives us the chance to repent of those things that we do wrong so that we can stand blameless before God with a pure heart and clean hands.