Recently, a friend called to ask for my counsel. Once again he had caved in to an addiction that had plagued him for years, and now he felt ashamed, miserable and defeated. I reminded him that I was not his bishop, but in preparation for our talk, I called my bishop to seek advice. What could I say to someone who was so obviously good and trying so hard and yet was being crushed by this vicious enemy? My bishop helped me understand how bishops think. “Stopping is not repentance,” he said; “changing is.” Stopping is an act of will-power, which seldom holds up to the unrelenting onslaught of Satan; changing is a function of the Atonement, a divinely infused power allowing one to become a new creature in Christ.
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