Singular moment on the earth

Gratitude for Gethsemane

 

Andrew C. Skinner

 

When Eternity hung in the balance…

All of Heavenly Father’s planning and preparation, all of His interest in His children and all of His desires for them, all of His aims and goals for the entire universe came down to a singular moment on the earth in a garden called Gethsemane.

 

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None of us in this life will escape sin, trials, tribulations, pain, or suffering. To whom, then, shall we turn for the help we so desperately need?  Who possesses the kind of power to fulfill all the promises of redemption and exaltation made in the scriptures? 

It is Jesus Christ in him we are secure in our hope for help.

 

Through his experience in Gethsemane, the Savior extends his mercy to sinners and his comfort and help to the forlorn and forsaken. He can never forget us nor forsake us… it is simply not in his makeup to be able to do so or even to think of doing so.

 

The Savior’s Atonement is able to bring us back into a right relationship with God, which we call the doctrine of justification and set us on the path of sanctification until we actually become like God. Because of Gethsemane, all of life’s unfair circumstances will be made up to us. Because of Gethsemane, Jesus is able to be a merciful God and also a just and perfect God as well.  Because of Gethsemane, Jesus is able to lift us to new heights and a new way of life, able to empower us, build us, and put all things right for us.

 

The Savior’s power is of staggering, even infinite, proportions in its ability to change us and make us into something we could not otherwise become.  The Savior’s experience in Gethsemane removes the effects of the Fall, the bitterness of life,

and allows us to glimpse Heaven.