Hello brothers and sisters today I have decided to talk about repentance. Really, I'm kind of going to go through some common questions that people have about repentance and kind of elaborate on that Somethings one question that pretty obvious when thinking of talking about this topic is
What is repentance.
Well in gospel topics it says Repentance is one of the first principles of the gospel and is essential to our temporal and eternal happiness. It is much more than just acknowledging wrongdoings. It is a change of mind and heart that gives us a fresh view about God, about ourselves, and about the world. It includes turning away from sin and turning to God for forgiveness. It is motivated by love for God and the sincere desire to obey His commandments.
And yeah know one thing were told a lot as missionaries or something someone might say when we teach them this part of the gospel is they'll say something like oh ok that's interesting but why would I need to change or I'm happy with where I'm going in life so I think I'm good and I don’t need it. But then we tell them why we need to repent. Which leads us into our next question.
Why do we need repentance?
And you know why we need to repent can be very simple. It's so that we can live with our family's forever and with heavenly father forever as well. which should be the number one reason why we want to repent but there's also more to it as well another thing repentance does is it helps us to not feel the pain and anguish we could feel if we hadn't repented.
One story that comes to mind is the story of Alma the younger. For those of you who don’t know the story of alma the younger he was a wicked young man who would go around with his friends at the time and he would try to destroy the church and what was really bad was he destroyed people's testimony to do so. And so Alma the older his father was really worried not only for the church but for his own son because knows what God does to people who try to destroy his church. So Alma the older says a prayer and not to shortly after that prayer an angel appears to Alma the younger and his friends and tells them that if they do not stop God will destroy them and at this moment Alma the younger struck down as if he were dead. Well Alma the younger is in immense pain and he couldn't move at all. And in this moment of immense pain, he remembers something his father told him and I love that because it's super true have you guys ever been in a bad situation where you just remember something your parents told you and it ends up helping you get out of the situation I definitely have. But going back to Alma the younger he remembers to call upon Jesus Christs name to save him from his pains that he was feeling one verse that I love when he explains the is experience is in Alma 36: 20
“And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!”
This to me is a perfect example of repentance because when we call out Christ’s name, he will always be there to help us and because he loves us so much he will forgive us for anything we might do to fall short of the glory of God. And like the verse says in Alma are Joy will always exceed out pain either it's physical or spiritual the light of Christ will always be stronger.
Ok so now we know why we need repentance but now we need to know how to use it not just occasionally but daily
One scripture that really talks about this is in Mosiah when king Benjamin is talking to his people. And it's in Mosiah 4:26 and it says
“And now, for the sake of these things which I have spoken unto you—that is, for the sake of retaining a remission of your sins from day to day, that ye may walk guiltless before God”
and it says little bit more about what we should do daily but I really want to focus on that part right there were it says retaining a remission of our sins day to day
A great talk that really explains this more is is a talk by Elder Franklin S. Gonzales were he gives a great metaphor and example of daily repentance he says" few days ago, I drove into a service station and the attendant asked where I’d had it waxed. “The truth of the matter is,” I said, “it hasn’t been waxed since I bought it sixteen months ago.”
“You don’t say,” he muttered, somewhat confused.
My car does shine, but not because I wash or wax it frequently. Instead, I take a few minutes and go over it with a damp "shammy" chamois every morning. (a shammy is like a special type of cloth) Because it’s clean, the paint doesn’t oxidize so fast and it’s actually shinier than it was when I bought it. The right time for preserving paint jobs on cars seems to be every day.
Now brothers and sisters the right time for us to repent is every day one way I think about it is like doing the laundry actually when you wash and dry your clothes that's like repentance process and then when we get our clothes dirty again and we all know that inevitably we get to wash them all over again.
Now this analogy also works in that if we don't wash our clothes for a week, they get gross and if we don't wash our clothes for. A month that's really gross but if we don't wash our clothes for year now that's just concerning and you know one question I've heard a lot is when do you know what time to repent and just like with dirty clothes you know when you need to wash them it's just like how we know that when we need to repent daily it is because we can feel it in our soul.
Now what about those of us who don't think we deserve forgiveness. For whatever reason. One thing I think about instantly is
This scripture In Alma 7: 12
And it says
“And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.”
Brothers and sisters this scripture is 100% true I testify that Jesus Christ knows exactly what we are going through and that he also knows how to best help us in our lives not just occasionally but daily he suffered not only so that we could live with him and heavenly father again but so that he can know exactly how we feel and what we're going through because he loves us so much.
One thing I think about when taking about this is when as missionary, we try to use our past mistakes as ways to help others. When teaching one great example of this is when we had a friend who struggled with word of wisdom issues a d because I understood were this person was coming from, I could help them understand the importance of repentance for that issue.
I can’t tell you how important it is that we stress the fact that Jesus Christ knows who we are and how we suffer and he knows this again because he loves is eternally.
Now we know what repentance is, why we need it and how to use it and also that we are worthy of it through the grace of God.
Now the last question is how do we know that we have truly repented well luckily the scriptures answer this question in D&C 58:43 and it says
“By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins—behold, he will confess them and forsake them.”
Now what does that mean it means that step one we need to confess our sins now this one's kind of obvious for a lot of us I think most of us know that we need to confess our sins but the real tricky part is forsaking them now to me forsaking my sins means leaving them to die or to get away from si.
Another definition is really to change or to become different in that that sin no longer has a hold of us.
A talk that explains this better is one by Elder James A. Cullimore. He says, "Confession and forsaking, then, are the two important elements of repentance. After one has been brought to realize his transgression and made his determination to turn from it, he must humble himself to make his confession. It would be much easier to simply cease doing the wrong, in the case of serious sin, and say nothing to anyone. But to humble himself to confess it to the ones offended and to the bishop is a more sobering matter and takes real humility.
Repentance is not easy at all but it is a very necessary thing that everyone must do in order to be with our loving heavily father not ok only but like Elder James A. Cullimore said it is a very sobering matter that takes humility which I think is a very important part of repentance it's not only showing that we admit to our transgressions but its showing heavenly father that we truly love him and our family and that we want to spend the rest of our eternity with them.
Brothers and sisters, I would like to just bare my testimony that I know the church is true
And I know that repentance is a key part of God's plan so that we can live with them again for eternity and know that god has us go through these trial and tribulations because he know we can get through them and become better because of them I know that the savior have us this because he truly loves each and every one of us and he wants to helps as much as it is in his power to do so I know the savior lives and I know that this is the way back to our loving heavenly fathers arms and I say these things in Jesus’ name amen.
