"I will give away all of my sins to know thee"

Today I read Alma 22, another favorite chapter of mine. Doing this blog sure has made it clear I have a lot of favorite chapters. I really like this one because it displays the humility and faith of king Lamoni's father.

After Aaron was released from prison, he and his brethren who had been locked up with him were led to the house of King Lamoni's father to teach him. He proved to be every bit as receptive and humble as Lamoni was. He was actually a bit more perceptive than Lamoni was too, at least that is the way it is written.

The most famous verse in this chapter is of course verse 18, where he prays for the first time. I think the reason this resonates so well with me is because I had a few investigators like the king who would pray a very simple, very heartfelt prayer like this one. So pure and full of faith, like a child's faith in their parent.

The part that the rest of us should be learning from this though is when he says he will give away all of his sins to know God. How many of us already know God and hold onto our sins anyway? Which begs the question, if we hold onto our sins like that, do we really know God at all? I would say in that instance we know of God, but we don't know God personally. We have not let the Atonement into our lives to work it's healing powers on us.

What does it mean to give away all of one's sins anyway? Certainly it cannot mean that we will sin no more. Such a feat is impossible for us in this life. I do however think that it means forsaking our evil ways and giving up our favorite sins, the ones we hold onto and bring out every so often. It might be something as simple as watching rated R movies, or something as truly damning as viewing pornography. We all have them. King Lamoni's father here is actually displaying a courage that I wonder how many of us can equal? I know I have struggled for years to give up my sins to better know God.

The one thing to be made aware of here, is that giving up one's sins is not a one time thing. Much like our salvation, it requires daily effort and sacrifice. It's not like giving up a credit card that we can't control our spending with. It's a daily struggle, a daily pleading with our Father in Heaven. But as we do this on a daily basis, wonderful things can and will happen. May we all strive to give away all of our sins and hold nothing back that we may enjoy the love and grace of our Father in Heaven. Until tomorrow.