No Other Name

Jesus Christ made the ultimate sacrifice, suffered an infinite amount in both body and soul until He had bled from every pore in order to save us. It is through His name alone that we can be saved. If we have gone down the wrong path and sinned, we must be saved by Jesus. There is no degree of self-inflicted punishment that will bring us one step closer to forgiveness and redemption. It is appropriate to feel remorse and a desire to make restitution when we have made mistakes. When these feelings lead us to repent and turn toward Jesus so that He may apply the healing power of His Atonement, such feelings can lead to our forgiveness. This is called Godly sorrow because we have included God and His power in our repentance process. But any suffering that we endure without attempting to repent or turn toward Jesus is not Godly sorrow and, in fact, is worse than useless. Though we whip ourselves mercilessly until we are bleeding nearly from every pore, such pain and anguish is insufficient to bring about our salvation. It is only through Christ's name and His sacrifice and His pain and His way that we may obtain forgiveness and be whole again. It is pride and foolishness that leads us to believe that both we ourselves and Jesus are better off if we suffer alone for our sins. Whether we repent or not, whether we turn to our Savior or not, Jesus has already suffered and paid the price for our sins. Satan laughs when we can get paid twice and still keep our souls in His clutches to boot. Let us let go of our pride and our fears and turn to Jesus the moment we recognize our mistakes, so that we don't cause more suffering than necessary.