Cleansed by the Light

Illustration by Elia Sampò, may not be copied

When performing ordinances in the temple, temple workers record each one and make a check mark with a red pencil on the name card. One day, after performing an ordinance, I placed the pencil inside the pocket of my white suit jacket. When back in the office, I put the pencil away.

Later, when I washed the jacket, it came out stained red! I discovered that the tip of the red pencil had broken off in the jacket pocket. I couldn’t believe that a small piece of lead could cause such damage.

My wife told me the jacket was ruined, but I decided to try to bleach out the red stains. When I took the jacket out of the bleach solution, however, it had turned yellow.

I prayed, “Heavenly Father, what should I do now?” In my mind, I could see my uncle’s faded red tractor, which had spent its life in the prairie sun. I remembered that the sun fades most colors. So, I put my jacket in the bright sun, carefully exposing the yellowest area to the light. Surprisingly, after many days, it turned white again.

The sun, which lights the darkness, made my suit jacket white again. The Son, who lights the world (see Doctrine and Covenants 88:6–13; John 8:12), can make us clean again. As the Lord declared through Isaiah, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).

Alma explains this principle: “There can no man be saved except his garments are washed white; yea, his garments must be purified until they are cleansed from all stain, through the blood of him of whom it has been spoken by our fathers, who should come to redeem his people from their sins” (Alma 5:21).

We have the divine privilege of repenting and becoming clean through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. As we repent, He removes our stain of sin or anything else that hinders our spiritual progress.

Easter is a special opportunity to remember Christ’s cleansing power at work in our lives. Just as the sun made my suit jacket white again, we celebrate the fact that the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God will make our sins white as wool.