“And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.” (Luke 7:40-43). Sometimes we feel that if we are not perfect in keeping the commandments, we can't really love our Savior. But if we never sinned or made mistakes, then we would never need to be forgiven. And if we are forgiven very little, then we will have little cause to love our Savior. It is true that if we love our Savior, then we will keep His commandments. But every time that we sin and then repent and thus are forgiven, our love for our Savior grows. Therefore, we can actually increase our ability to keep the commandments by living boldly and courageously enough to occasionally make mistakes and qualify for forgiveness through repentance. After all, it is only after we become sick that our body develops antibodies and a more robust immune system. The path to perfection runs not through an obsessive avoidance of mistakes but through an upward spiral of mistakes, repentance, forgiveness, a deepening love for our Savior because we have been forgiven much, and a renewed commitment to keeping the commandments because our love has grown deeper.
