In America you can’t open a magazine or a newspaper or a cereal box without finding coupons.  A coupon is nothing more than an otherwise worthless scrap of paper that can be redeemed for something of value.  Sometimes the item can have great value.  Some people have made a hobby of collecting coupons, and of seeing how much they can redeem with the least expenditure of real cash.  Some have elevated the hobby to a science, and are able to brag that they’ve gotten hundreds of dollars of goods by redeeming piles of coupons while spending only a few dollars.

I’m not one who is into coupon redemption.  When I read the newspaper, my eyes don’t even see them.  The coupons that come in the mail are thrown into the trash with barely a glance.  There is no doubt but what I’ve thrown away many thousands of dollars of value.  I’ve done it because redeeming a coupon generally involves spending money for something that I wouldn’t have otherwise purchased.

A human soul is like a coupon.  Many people consider themselves of no value.  They throw their lives away.  They sell themselves for naught.  Yet, the Lord says, “Ye shall be redeemed without money.”  (3 Nephi 20:38).

A coupon requires a redeemer.  A coupon requires someone who sees its value.  The Redeemer of all mankind has said, “Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.”  (D&C 18:10).

What is the worth of a soul?

The Jewish Talmud comes closest to describing the value of a human soul.  It says there that “Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world.  And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.”  (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:9, Babylonian Talmud Tractate Sanhedrin 37a).

I’m sure that the writer of that wise saying was unaware that his words are literally so.  In fact, they are an understatement.

The God of us all has said, “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”  (Moses 1:39).

And wherein is the Father glorified in this work?  It is in the saving and the exalting of a single soul:  because that child of God, who achieves exaltation will go on to create and people many worlds, all of which become additions to our Father’s realm.  The soul who fails to reach exaltation will find his progress dammed.  He will be stopped.  He will have no eternal increase.  No worlds will come from him.  He will add nothing to his Father’s glory.

The great plan of redemption was put into place long before the earth was created.  All creation held its collective breath as the Great Redeemer worked out the infinite details of the Atonement, and opened the way for individual repentance, forgiveness, resurrection, and exaltation.

Every soul falls far short of meriting any blessing from God, but the Redeemer of all mankind is ready to stand before the Father, plead the case of every repentant soul, and redeem every man and woman who will believe on Him and keep His commandments.

Jesus sees the worth of every soul, even when that person sees no value in himself.  He is, in fact, able to increase the value of a repentant, obedient, willing soul to an infinite degree.

But that soul must first want to be redeemed.  He must show his desire to be redeemed by repenting of his sins.  Just as soon as he exercises faith enough to ask for forgiveness and redemption, just that soon is the great plan of redemption activated in his behalf.  “Therefore, if ye will repent and harden not your hearts,” Alma says, “immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you.”  (Alma 34:31).

Alma, himself, experienced that immediacy.  He went from “exquisite” and “bitter” pain to “exquisite” and “sweet” joy in an instant.  (Alma 36:18-19).

In the Church we most often refer to God’s plan as the “plan of salvation.”  In the scriptures, I think the plan is more often called the “plan of redemption.”  That is certainly the term most often used by Alma; but in just one chapter of his book, he used four different names for the plan, all of them equally apt and descriptive.  In Alma chapter 42 he uses the term “plan of salvation” once (v. 5), “plan of happiness” twice (vs. 8 and 16), “plan of mercy” three times (vs. 15 and 31), and “plan of redemption” twice (vs. 11 and 13).

How grateful we must be for this marvelous plan—this incredible opportunity.  How grateful we must be for this mortal life—this opportunity that we’re given to repent and to make covenants.  Repenting and making covenants are the two most important things that we can do in this life.  Indeed, they are the purpose of mortality.  Those who fail to take advantage of this opportunity are like coupons that have no redeemer.  They’re destined for the garbage.

Therefore, the wicked remain as though there had been no redemption made, except it be the loosing of the bands of death…  (Alma 11:41).

…Remember that he that persists in his own carnal nature, and goes on in the ways of sin and rebellion against God, remaineth in his fallen state and the devil hath all power over him.  Therefore he is as though there was no redemption made…  (Mosiah 16:5).

I am grateful for the Redeemer.  I am grateful for my Redeemer who saw value in me.  I am grateful for the Great Redeemer who offered me the opportunity to repent of my sins, and who opened His Atonement for my full use.  I am grateful to have been redeemed, and I hope to be able to live up to the expectations that He has for me.