I haven't been able to find the talk on the internet yet, but Brad Wilcox gave a talk on the atonement at the BYU devotional July 12. I didn't hear it, but Casey did and I got a lot out of what she told me. So this is kind of third person, but I wanted to put these thoughts down because it was really helpful to me.
When you were little, your mom paid for your piano lessons. You paid her back by practicing and trying to improve your skills. That is really all she gets from it. You don't actually pay her back. That can be likened to the atonement. Christ pays for your sins. The only way you can really pay him back is to use it to repent and improve yourself but you don't actually pay Him back. He doesn't get any benefit from it other than the joy of watching you learn and grow. It makes me think of the scripture in Moses 1:39:
For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
That is interesting to think about. I have heard that life is God's gift to us, and our gift to Him is what we do with that life.
Also, when you take piano lessons, you are expected to make mistakes. You might even make the same mistakes over and over again, but the more you practice and stick with it, the more likely you are to eventually stop making the mistakes and go on to a harder piece where you will learn to play it by practicing it over and over and make more mistakes.
In our lives, Jesus expects that we will make mistakes as we learn and grow. It is to be expected. We may, in fact, keep making the same mistakes over again. But this is when we must not get discouraged and give up. We need to keep practicing over and over again until we get it right.
What about if we can't play well enough to play at Carnegie Hall? Is that the only option? What about all the levels of playing from beginnner on up? Aren't they worth something too?
In real life, there is value to our lives even if we aren't the absolute best we can be. We keep trying and progressing.
This analogy really helps me in thinking about me in relationship to the atonement of Jesus Christ and what He expects of me. It also reminds me of a post earlier where I talk about the "practicing" aspects of the Gospel. There are scriptures about exercising faith and practicing holiness. That is right in line with the piano practicing analogy. Practicing living aspects of the Gospel and characteristics of Jesus are what this life is all about. When we make mistakes, even if they seem to be the same ones, we keep pressing forward and we don't give up.
Modified 9/18/11: I found this blog that talks more about Br. Wilcox's talk and has the actual link to the talk. She quoted me and linked back to this post! Click here.
Modified 2/8/12: Here is the byutv link for the talk.
