“And now, verily I say unto you, I, the Lord, will not lay any sin to your charge; go your ways and sin no more; but unto that soul who sinneth shall the former sins return, saith the Lord your God.” (D&C 82:7). When we imagine the process of repenting and obtaining forgiveness through Christ taking upon Himself our sins, we might picture Christ carefully locking away our sins in a secure location. We might further assume that Christ is holding onto these sins as a kind of blackmail insurance, so that if we ever step out of line He can take every awful thing we've ever done and throw it in our face. This is not even a little accurate. God does not want us to confess our sins to Him so that He can get leverage over us. He does not gleefully pore over our ledgers to see how much new debt we've racked up so He can lord it over us. When we trip and fall, He doesn't rush out to dump all of our sins back on our shoulders. None of this is what it means for our former sins to return to us. If we imagine that repentance is returning like sheep to the fold to be cleaned and fed and given shelter and warmth and love and protection, then the sins are the predatory wolves waiting just outside the reach of our Savior’s protection. As long as we continue in righteousness and abide in the presence of the Good Shepherd, our former sins cannot touch us. However, if we sin and wander away from the Shepherd and His flock, then all of those former sins are lying in wait and ready to pounce as soon as we abandon our protection. Over time and after exercising much faith, we can become better versions of ourselves, but no matter how much progress we make, it doesn't change the fact that at the end of the day we are still flawed and confused and weak little sheep that stand no chance on our own against a pack of ravenous wolves. Repenting is putting on the whole armor of God, sinning is taking that armor off and exposing ourselves once more to the fiery darts of the adversary. Our former sins are angry that we ever got away and they are delighted when we hate ourselves more than we love God and choose to place ourselves in their merciless power. Let us all make our way swiftly back to the fold and stay inside its protection for as long as we can so that we never have to find ourselves surrounded by our former sins ever again.
