The Atonement Is Not A Blank Check

Frank Abagnale Jr was a check fraudster and con artist who wrote a book that later got adapted into a movie called Catch Me If You Can.  Frank got his very first taste of scamming people when he betrayed the trust of his own dad. When he turned 16, Frank's dad gave him a charge card to pay for his gas so he could get around. But Frank soon found that he could charge anything to his card at the gas station and was soon filling up other people's cars in exchange for cash, running up thousands of dollars on the card in a matter of months. His dad paid off the card because he loved his son but it broke his heart that Frank cared so little about him or his money. Jesus Christ paid for our sins. He has effectively given us a charge card to help get us through life and out of the sticky situations our mistakes land us in. But when we decide to willfully rebel and do the wrong thing even when we know it's right, we're acting like Frank Abagnale and running up charges without caring that we're breaking our Savior's heart that we would treat His love and His sacrifice with such indifference and disdain and contempt. We can't get through this life without making lots of stupid mistakes and the Savior knows this and is happy to pay for our education as we learn from experience what's good and what's evil. But we should not ever treat the Atonement as a blank check or a no limit credit card or a license to do whatever we want. The more often we think about our Savior and the pain He endured on our behalf, the more likely we are to use the Atonement with respect and reverence and not just set it at naught and trample it under foot.