The Brass Serpent and the Iron Rod

In a semi-recent elders quorum lesson in my EQ (one of four on the Island of Misfit Toys!), the instructor posed this question: "When we approach God in prayer to ask Him for forgiveness, how long does it take Him to grant our request?"

I was one of those to answer and posed the thought that, if we are sincere and are penitent, He grants it right away. He wants to give us this blessing. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught us in the mission field that preaching repentance is not condemning others; instead, it is offering them one of the greatest blessings God can give!

How beautiful it is to know we worship a God who's forgiveness is there for the asking! The Brass Serpent that Moses held up to the children of Israel in the wilderness is there for us all if we will not harden our hearts and refuse look up at it. It was a simple thing to do, and yet many perished because they were too stubborn or unbelieving merely "to look to God and live" (Alma 37:47).

It's a simple act of faith to get down on our knees, to offer a heartfelt prayer, to ask for forgiveness. And the granting of it is simple, in its essence, too.

Alma the Younger taught: "Now is the time and the day of your salvation; and therefore, if ye will repent and harden not your hearts, immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you" (Alma 34:31; emphasis added).

Having said that, of course, and because "faith without works is dead," our sincerity in asking for forgiveness must almost be accompanied by action. I've learned that while we individually don't have to sacrifice or suffer to repent (because Christ suffered for us), we do have to sacrifice and suffer to change. We must not only cease bad behavior(s), we must also replace it/them with a good one(s). We have to daily choose to take hold of the Iron Rod as we strive to put off the natural man, to become someone different than we were before. It's not easy, and the pathway of discipleship was always meant to be. The same goes for breaking free from things that are not necessarily sins but bad habits.

In the October 2016 general conference, Elder Lynn G. Robbins taught: "An unwillingness to sacrifice as part of our penitence, mocks or belittles His greater sacrifice for the same sin."

It's one part simple, one part tough. But we have help. We have so much help to guide us along the journey. It is there in the simple, Sunday school answers of prayer, scripture study, attending meetings, and so forth. It is also there in those along the same journey who buoy us up in our efforts to change, like the ugly duckling who turned over time into a beautiful swan (metaphorically speaking).

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine bravely and opened expressed on social media that he has been struggling with a pornography addiction. In admitting to this, he also asked for the help of his friends by beginning a daily habit of posting as to whether or not that day was a "win," or a day in which he had succeeded in avoiding temptation.

I've been following this friend's posts since, and I've been amazed by both his progress as well as the incredible amount of support he's received from others as one or two days of "wins" have, at last counting, become now two weeks' worth. It's been inspiring to see his will to change. It also inspires me in my efforts to confront my own challenges.

When our "favorite sins," and we each have them, enter our thoughts or come around wanting to hang out again, like Peter in the New Testament, we each must answer the Lord in our own way if we love Him "more than these" (John 21:15; emphasis added). I use "these" in this sense being those things that would get in our way on the path of the Iron Rod.