In medicine, remission refers to the significant reduction or disappearance of the signs and symptoms of a chronic disease. Someone who has reduced their cancerous cells by fifty percent or more would be considered in remission. Remission is not always a complete and final cure. A person in remission may “relapse”, with the cancer starting to grow again, often even more aggressively. As it is with the body, so it is with the Spirit. The guilt and shame of sin can grow and entangle around and through our hearts and our minds and our souls like a cancer. This cancer will continue to spread through every facet of our life and will destroy us if we let it continue to grow unchecked. Thankfully, our Savior Jesus Christ has prepared a way for us to fight back against this cancer. The harsh light of truth and the sanctifying blood of Christ can attack and destroy the cancerous growth of sin far more effectively than any dose of chemo or radiation. But just because we have repented and received a remission of our sins, there is always the possibility that we may relapse. We are surrounded by spiritual carcinogens that do so easily beset us. And some of us are genetically predisposed to be extra sensitive and susceptible to particular kinds of temptation. But the important thing to remember is that none of us are immune to sin. Even Joseph Smith found himself getting entangled again and again after receiving a remission of his sins. “After it was truly manifested unto this first elder that he had received a remission of his sins, he was entangled again in the vanities of the world; But after repenting, and humbling himself sincerely, through faith, God ministered unto him by an holy angel, whose countenance was as lightning, and whose garments were pure and white above all other whiteness;” (D&C 20:5-6). Relapsing into sin after being in remission can be as tragic and heartbreaking as having a cancer relapse. But as anyone knows who has had to fight battle after battle with cancer and has gone through the cycle is remission and relapse more times than they had ever hoped or believed that they could possibly endure, no matter how many relapses they suffer, they are not going to stop fighting to survive. With every hair they lose, with every square inch of skin they burn, with every ounce of bile they vomit up, they gladly trade it all for just one more second of life with their loved ones. People in remission, whether of chronic illnesses of the body, or chronic sins of the Spirit, don't take it for granted that tomorrow will be just as good or better than today. Another relapse can happen at any time. But then again, so could another remission. Let's not allow our sins to reach stage four before we take the necessary steps to repent and receive the treatment we need to chase back and put off the natural man and the insidious effects of sin. Let us turn to the Savior immediately after each relapse so that we can have once more a remission of our sins. Christ will not condemn us for doing the spiritual equivalent of smoking another cigarette even though we have lung cancer. Christ knows the thorns in our sides and the crosses that we carry, for He has borne them Himself. Christ understands that spiritual cancerous growths are a part of the human condition. It's why He became a spiritual oncologist in the first place. He will help us again and again to put our sins in remission, and as long as we keep exercising our faith in Him and returning back to Him through repentance, then there will come a day that our sins go into remission for the last time and we never relapse again.
