Repentance Is a Blessing

                    Heavenly Father developed a plan for the happiness of His children.  He knew that each of us would commit sins and so He included in His gospel plan the principle of repentance.  He promised to receive all who forsake their sins and come to him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit.  Repentance is necessary for everyone.  It is a great blessing that allows us to be forgiven and cleansed of our sins so we can achieve exaltation.  An understanding of the principle of repentance should bring hope and encouragement to us.

                    Isaiah, the Old Testament prophet, taught the principle of repentance to the people of his day.  He told them, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord:  though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18).

                    Isaiah used the colors scarlet and crimson to describe sin because the color red represents blood and implies serious sin.  He was saying that we can repent even if we have committed serious sins.

                    Isaiah said that sins could become white as snow to illustrate God's forgiveness.  Clean white snow represents purity.  Isaiah was teaching that we can become pure and clean again through repentance.

                    The principle of repentance is often demonstrated with a simple object lesson.  The teacher has a clear container with clean water in it.   When the teacher adds a few drops of red food coloring to the water, it gradually discolors all the water - just as sin discolors our entire lives.  When the teacher adds a few drops of liquid bleach to the water and swirls it until the water is clear again, it demonstrates the gospel principles of repentance and forgiveness.  Just as the bleach makes the water clear again, sincere repentance enables us to be forgiven and become clean again after we have sinned.

                    A story is told of a young girl who was asked what she was thankful for.  She answered, "Erasers.  I make lots of mistakes doing math problems.  Without an eraser I can't undo my mistakes and write the correct answers on my paper."

                    We have all sinned.  We all need an "eraser" to undo our mistakes.  Repentance is the process Heavenly Father has given to us for "erasing" our sins.  Heavenly Father wants us to return to live with him after this life, He also knows that everyone will make mistakes and commit sins while on the earth.  He has given us a way to become clean again after we have sinned - repentance - because He knows that no unclean, or sinful, person can live with him. 

                    Heavenly Father told Adam, "Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent. Or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence…" (Pearl of Great Price, Moses 6:57).

                    Heavenly Father chose Jesus Christ to be the Savior of the world.  Through the Atonement, Jesus Christ paid for all our sins with his suffering.  When we repent we can be forgiven and can become clean again.

The Prophet Joseph Smith learned the importance of the Atonement through modern-day revelation:  "For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;

"But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;

"Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit - and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink -

"Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men" (Doctrine and Covenants 19:16).

A story is told about a man named Charlie who was in prison in Leavenworth, Kansas.  He had been in many of the United States' high security institutions for most of his life because he grew up with crime.  His father and mother were alcoholics and convicts.  When he was thirteen, the flu epidemic killed all the members of his family.  After the funerals, Charlie hopped on a freight train and began a nomadic life across the United States.  His life included crime, beginning with car theft, then burglary, and finally armed robbery.  By the age of fifty-seven Charlie had spent thirty-five years in prison.

It would be easy to think that there was no hope for forgiveness for a person like Charlie.  Many people simply give up on themselves, but Charlie didn't.  He finally realized he was living a dead-end existence and later described how he felt at that time:  "I slowly came to realize I did not like myself.  How could I change?  If I kept up my criminal acts, I would die in a prison cell and be buried in some unmarked plot on prison property."

                    Charlie decided that he wanted something better and began studying religion.  He eventually read the Book of Mormon and realized that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the true Church of Jesus Christ.  He wrote to Church headquarters and asked for more information about the Church.  He was unable to be baptized because he was in prison, but he studied the books and other materials he received from the Missionary Department.

                    As Charlie studied, he gained a testimony of Jesus Christ and the gospel plan and made a complete change in his behavior.  When he learned a principle of the gospel, he started to live it and became strengthened.  He then learned another principle of the gospel, lived it, and became strengthened.  He then learned another principle, lived it, and became strengthened.  He then learned another principle, lived it, and became strengthened further.  As Charlie learned about the things that Heavenly Father and Jesus wanted him to do, he started doing those things and stopped doing wrong things.

                    Charlie eventually had a chance to get out of prison on parole or under strict supervision.  He decided that he would start a new life and met with the stake president in the area.  The stake president was so impressed with Charlie that he went to the parole officer and guaranteed that he would get Charlie a job and a place to live if Charlie were released on parole.

                    Charlie was released from prison, and the stake president found a job and an apartment for him.  The missionaries taught Charlie the gospel discussions.  When his parole was finished, Charlie was baptized.  Two and a half years later he came to Church headquarters to meet the person who had answered his first letter and to attend general conference.  Charlie, who was now the high priests group leader in his ward, testified of the truthfulness of the gospel.  He became a completely new man by learning the gospel and repenting of the things he had done wrong.  Repentance enabled him to change fro being a criminal to being a member of the Church with a responsible calling and a strong testimony of the gospel.

                    Charlie knew that "Because of … agency, I had to make the first move in changing my lifestyle.  Repentance is definitely a change of mind.  Repentance begins by a desire to scrap all your past by reading, studying, and pondering God's word.  Repentance is reaching out from the midst of my pains and negativeness and turning them to joy and positiveness."

                    Charlie testified:  "I know the extent [of the] damage done by my years of rebellion.  But I also know that repentance and endurance based on faith is the way to my personal salvation.  When I am called from this mortal life, I hope and pray, that since [I found the gospel], in the words of Paul [in] 2 Timothy 4:7, I can say, `I have fought a good fight,' I did the best I could with my Church callings, and I kept my faith and love for the Lord and Heavenly Father."

                    Repentance is a wonderful thing as Charlie discovered.  Once Charlie had repented of his sins, he endured to the end - he spent the rest of his life trying to live the way Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ wanted him to live.

                    Repentance is important because sins can slow or stop our spiritual development and move us further from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  Repentance allows us to turn back to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and begin to grow spiritually once again.  We all need to repent even though our sins may not be considered big ones.

                    We must pass through the process of repentance in order to turn the pain and guilt of sin into joy.  That process consists of recognition, remorse, reporting, resolve, restitution, and recommitment.

The first step of repentance is recognition.  We must recognize that we have sinned and desire to change.

The next step of repentance is to feel remorse for our behavior.  We must feel sorrow for what we have done wrong - not because we were found out but because we sinned in the first place. 

The third step of repentance is reporting or confessing the sin.  Confession shows that we are sincere about wanting to repent.  All sins must be confessed to the Lord.  If we have sinned against another person, we should also confess to that person.  Serious sins must also be confessed to the bishop or branch president. 

The fourth step of repentance is to resolve to never commit the sin again.  We must forsake the sin; we must give it up.  If we forsake a sin, we resolve to never do that wrong thing again.  Confessing and forsaking are very important elements of repentance.  The Lord told the Prophet Joseph Smith, "By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins - behold, he will confess them and forsake them."

The fifth step of repentance is to make restitution. To make restitution means to make right, as much as possible, what we have done wrong.  If we have stolen something, we must return it or pay for it.  If we have lied, we must tell the truth.  If we have damaged something, we must repair or replace it.

                    It is not always possible to make right something we have done wrong.  For example, if we have said untrue things about a person, we can apologize and tell the truth, but we may not be able to undo the damage done to the person's reputation.  If we have stolen or damaged something, we may be able to replace the object but not exactly as it was.  In this kind of situation, Jesus Christ, through His Atonement and mercy, will take responsibility for setting things right.  But this happens only after we have done all we can.

The sixth step of repentance is to make a recommitment to keep the commandments.  This last step means striving to keep all the commandments of God.  The Lord told Joseph Smith, "Nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven" (Doctrine and Covenants 1:32).  Repentance is a process that we will have to use throughout our lives, but as we become more perfect in keeping the commandments, we will do less for which we need to repent.

                    Repentance can be a long and difficult process and can be made even longer by procrastination; however, the effort required to repent is more than repaid by the blessings we receive when we do repent.

                    When Alma, an ancient American prophet, inquired of the Lord about repentance, he was told, "Yea, and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me" (Book of Mormon - Another Testament of Jesus Christ,  Mosiah 26:30).

The Lord promises to forgive us when we sincerely repent!

                    When the Prophet Joseph Smith and his followers arrived in Zion, Jackson County, Missouri, Joseph inquired of the Lord as to what He wanted His people to do.  The Lord taught them about the principle of repentance and said, "Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more" (Doctrine and Covenants 58:42).

                    One may wonder what the Lord meant when He said that He "will remember [our sins] no more."  This means that He will not consider them when He judges us.  When we have sincerely and completely repented, to the Lord it is as if we had never sinned.

                    Alma the Younger, the son of Alma and another prophet, described his own repentance when he said, "And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.

                    "And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!

                    "Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains.  Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy" (Book of Mormon - Another Testament of Jesus Christ, Alma 36:19-21).

                    According to these verses, we will feel joy when we have repented and been forgiven.  Sin brings us guilt and pain, but repentance brings us joy.  We can repent and again feel the joy of being clean.

                    Elder Spencer W. Kimball, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, wrote, "What relief!  What comfort!  What joy!  Those laden with transgressions and sorrows and sin may be forgiven and cleansed and purified if they will return to their Lord, learn of him, and keep his commandments" (Elder Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness [1969], 368).

While repentance and forgiveness are wonderful gifts, it is better to avoid sin.  It is better not to sin and thus avoid the pain of sin and the effort of repentance.  We should never deliberately sin with the thought, "I will just repent later."

Elder Hugh W. Pinnock of the Quorum of the Seventy explained why it is better to have never sinned in the first place by sharing the following personal experience and counsel. 

"Live the commandments.  Never feed the foxes!  What does that mean?  Breaking commandments is like feeding foxes.  In England where we live, my wife and I had heard that foxes were right in town.  We wanted to see a fox.  A neighbor told us that if we left food for the foxes we probably would see one.  Our butcher gave us some bones.  Each night we would place some bones out in the backyard.  Soon a fox came to eat.  Then a few more.  Now we have at least five foxes racing through our flower garden, digging up the lawn, and leaving a shambles every night…. 

"What started out as a curiosity is now a problem, and sin is much the same.  An indiscretion can begin a process that can make a mess of a whole life.  Remember, if you don't start feeding the foxes, they will never tear up your yard.  If you avoid making the seemingly small and harmless mistakes, your life will be free of many larger problems later on" (Ensign, Nov. 1993, 41).

The Pinnocks were eventually able to get the foxes out of their yard, but not without much effort and not before the foxes had caused great damage to the yard.  Repentance can bring us forgiveness and make us clean again, but not without much effort and not before we have experienced the pain and damage caused by sin.

                    Heavenly Father has lovingly included repentance in the gospel plan and promised to receive all who forsake their sins and come to him with a broken heart and contrite spirit.  I want you to know and feel that there is always hope for repentance if we repent.  Repentance is necessary for everyone.  Repentance is a great blessing that allows us to be forgiven and cleansed of our sins so we can achieve exaltation.

I know the joy and gratitude that comes from repenting and receiving the forgiveness of sins.  I am grateful for my knowledge of the principle of repentance and for the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which makes repentance possible.  I encourage everyone to begin the repentance process today and to repent of your sins while they are still small ones.  I know that we can receive joy and relief through repentance and living righteously.