chas started seminary this year. his class is studying the old testament. recently during a family scripture study, he was telling us about jacob. jacob, beloved of the Lord and a leader in the church, also made some mistakes. chas mentioned the fact that jacob boasted to his brothers about his coat of many colors and about the fact that he tricked his father into thinking he was esau in order to get the blessing of the birthright. chas pointed out that even though jacob was a great man, he was still imperfect and even had reason to repent from time to time. chas explained this realization gave him hope that, despite having made mistakes himself and needing to repent, God might still consider him good.
i could tell this was an idea -- a truth -- that chas needed to hear and one his heart needed to know. and indeed, it's true. we named a bunch of people in the scriptures and in real life that we love and know to be righteous people that God trusts who also have made mistakes in their lives and have needed to repent: Alma the Elder, Alma the Younger, Ammon and the other sons of Mosiah, Paul, Jonah, me, dad, chas, etc.
all of us really. God doesn't ask us never to make a mistake. he asks us to do our best to do what is right and when we make mistakes, to repent and make our wrongs right. if we do that, we can be sure that God will forgive us and keep working with and through us to bring others to him.
i'm grateful for this critical lesson chas learned. and i'm grateful to know God is working with chas -- pulling chas to him with love and learning and the kind of mercy and compassion only God is capable of.
he's really an amazing God. i saw God teaching chas today. i saw it with my own eyes and my own heart. it was an answer to a prayer and it was awesome.
