Tad R. Callister wrote:
The Atonement was designed to do more than restore us to the “starting line”—more than just wipe the slate clean. Its crowning purpose is to endow us with power so that we might overcome each of our weaknesses and acquire the divine traits that would make us like God. The Atonement was meant to be not only redemptive but exalting in its nature. C.S. Lewis understood this principle: “For God is not merely mending, not simply restoring a status quo. Redeemed humanity is to be something more than unfallen humanity would have been . . .” (Miracles, New York, 1978, 2-3; emphasis added).
Some of us lose sight and hope of perfection and godhood, not because of major sins but because of innocent mistakes or weaknesses. “I’m not a bad person”, we say. ”I just can’t seem to overcome the weaknesses that so easily beset me and distance me from God. It’s not the sins so much as the lack of talent, the lack of capability, the lack of strength that separate me from God.” Those of us who fall within this category need to be reminded of the Atonement’s lifting, as well as cleansing powers. Regardless of the depth or multiplicity of our individual weaknesses, the Atonement is always there. Therein lies it beauty and genius—it is never beyond our grasp. The Savior is always standing by, anxiously longing to endow us with those powers that will convert our every weakness to a strength.~Tad R. Callister, quoted from The Gift of the Atonement (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2002) 91
