Repentance is Proof that God Loves Us

One of the greatest gifts that our Heavenly Father gave us is the opportunity to repent for our sins and transgressions. It is a vital part of our Lord’s plan that without it, no person could even hope to make it into heaven. As stated in the fourth Article of Faith, repentance is second only to having faith in Jesus Christ. This makes it a very important factor in our eternal salvation and thus something that every single human being on this planet should come to know and love. For it is known, “All men, everywhere, must repent” (Moses 6:57)
I shall quickly touch on what it means to sin. Sometimes there are confusions between a transgression and sin, sometimes there is for some too much guilt placed in a harmless transgression. James describes sin, “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17). So, as we can see if someone knows the law and still openly rebels, then they have sinned, and thus they are not striving to be like God. We should feel ashamed by this, but know that no person can avoid sin. John made this clear, “if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, [Jesus Christ] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:8–9). He shows that all sin and there is no escape from it, but there is a silver lining, for he mentions that we can be forgiven of these sins.
The reason behind the importance of repentance is we are a fallen and sinful people can not fulfill our potential without a tool like repentance. The Prophet Amulek taught us that “And I say unto you again that he cannot save them in their sins; for I cannot deny his word, and he hath said that no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore, how can ye be saved, except ye inherit the kingdom of heaven? Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins.” (Alma 11:37). It is clear that without this gift, we could never make it back into heaven for we are certainly unclean. This point also made clear in the writings of Nephi, “no unclean thing can dwell with God” (1 Nephi 10:21) Showing this importance, Elder Bernard P. Brockbank quoted David O. McKay saying, “Every principle and ordinance of the gospel of Jesus Christ is significant and important in contributing to the progress, happiness, and eternal life of man, but there is none more essential to the salvation of the human family than the divine and eternally operative principle, repentance. Without it, no one can be saved. Without it, no one can … progress.”(Bernard P. Brockbank, Fall 1974 General Conference)
Another reason it is important to repent is sin can bring us low and “slow” us in our dealing in the world and especially with the spiritual things. President Monson explained this in a talk where he compared sins to the barnacles that grow on the under side of a ship. These are not good for shipping boats since it creates drag and can slow their progression, much like sins slow our spiritual progression. So, once in a while the boats will go far up river to the city Portland, where the freshwater will kill off all the barnacles. I believe its best to have the Prophet take the story from here, “Periodically, the ship must go into dry dock, where with great effort the barnacles are chiseled or scraped off. It’s a difficult, expensive process that ties up the ship for days. But not if the captain can get his ship to Portland. Barnacles can’t live in fresh water. There, in the sweet, fresh waters of the Willamette or Columbia, the barnacles loosen and fall away, and the ship returns to its task lightened and renewed. Sins are like those barnacles. Hardly anyone goes through life without picking up some. They increase the drag, slow our progress, decrease our efficiency. Unrepented, building up one on another, they can eventually sink us.” (Thomas S. Monson, April 2000 General Conference) From this we can see that an un-repented life will begin to make the individual drag in life and lose their luster from the extreme weight of sin, but all of it can easily be taken away.
One of the saddest things I see is people procrastinating repentance. I have been told many times over by friends, “I am young, I don’t want to change, and I have plenty of time in my life to repent”. This cuts deep since it is not true. Putting off repentance is extremely dangerous, for it grows the possibility that they will never repent. The Prophet Amluek knew this and taught many years ago the great dangers. “For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked.” (Alma 34:35) The more one puts of repentance the more weight they will feel from sin, and they will slowly become more and more a servant of the adversary with out even realizing it. The Spirit will not waste his time on one who will not repent and sadly this leaves people open to Satan’s growing influence on them. I know this on a very personal level. On the topic of not repenting President Monson related another story about how long un-repented sins can destroy us later. “The ice storm [that winter] wasn’t generally destructive. True, a few wires came down, and there was a sudden jump in accidents along the highway. … Normally, the big walnut tree could easily have borne the weight that formed on its spreading limbs. It was the iron wedge in its heart that caused the damage. The story of the iron wedge began years ago when the white-haired farmer [who now inhabited the property on which it stood] was a lad on his father’s homestead. The sawmill had then only recently been moved from the valley, and the settlers were still finding tools and odd pieces of equipment scattered about. … On this particular day, it was a faller’s wedge—wide, flat, and heavy, a foot or more long, and splayed from mighty poundings [—which the lad found] … in the south pasture. [A faller’s wedge, used to help fell a tree, is inserted in a cut made by a saw and then struck with a sledge hammer to widen the cut.] … Because he was already late for dinner, the lad laid the wedge … between the limbs of the young walnut tree his father had planted near the front gate. He would take the wedge to the shed right after dinner, or sometime when he was going that way. He truly meant to, but he never did. [The wedge] was there between the limbs, a little tight, when he attained his manhood. It was there, now firmly gripped, when he married and took over his father’s farm. It was half grown over on the day the threshing crew ate dinner under the tree. … Grown in and healed over, the wedge was still in the tree the winter the ice storm came.
In the chill silence of that wintry night … one of the three major limbs split away from the trunk and crashed to the ground. This so unbalanced the remainder of the top that it, too, split apart and went down. When the storm was over, not a twig of the once-proud tree remained. Early the next morning, the farmer went out to mourn his loss. …
Then, his eyes caught sight of something in the splintered ruin. ‘The wedge,’ he muttered reproachfully. ‘The wedge I found in the south pasture.’ A glance told him why the tree had fallen. Growing, edge-up in the trunk, the wedge had prevented the limb fibers from knitting together as they should.” (Thomas S Monson, Ensign, May 2002, 18) Like this hidden wedge, un-repented sins can bury deep in us and weaken us to a point where we will not be able to withstand a storm that we would normally be strong enough to stand against. Through the Lord and his gift, we can erase those wedges and be as if it had never happen.
While repentance is a gift, to some it is very scary and daunting. Once a person recognizes sin in their lives, it hurts, and to repent is going to hurt, but it should. Many adopt the idea of “premeditate repentance” which is lie from Satan. “And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God.” (2 Nephi 28:8) This is nothing less than a slap in the face to our Savior. To think that we can sin a little, plan to repent afterwards, and only get a minor punishment is ludicrous. “For those who have strayed, the Savior has provided a way back. But it is not without pain. Repentance is not easy; it takes time—painful time! You deceive yourself if you believe you can break the promises you have made with Heavenly Father and suffer no consequence.” (M. Russell Ballard, Ensign, May 1993, 6) Also, President Kimball stated something similar, “There is no royal road to repentance, no privileged path to forgiveness” (Teachings of the President of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball) True repentance is a changing of heart, and is extremely painful. Yet the end result is amazing. And everyone is strong enough to go through repentance, for the Lord will never give us more than we can handle.
As mentioned earlier, repentance usually is much more than just seeking forgiveness for sins; it is the conscious decision to follow Christ and try to turn away from the sinning. While of course in our fallen state it is impossible to completely turn away from sin, we must still try since if we don’t, we will be judged for it. The greatest gift, in my eyes, is repentance that leads to conversion.
“The fruits of repentance are sweet. Repentant converts find that the truths of the restored gospel govern their thoughts and deeds, shape their habits, and forge their character. They are more resilient and able to deny themselves of all ungodliness” (Russell M. Nelson, Ensign, May 2007, 102–5) As a convert this statement is close to me, of course he didn’t just mean converts to the Church for there are many LDS who need to or have been converted to Christ. If there is anything that is clearer to me, it is the greatness that comes out of true repentance and a conversion to Christ. This topic is of such importance to me. Before I became a member, I truly say fit in my eyes to destroy God’s influence over the earth. I was down the road of a ‘son of perdition” and could care less. I would rather not go into to much detail on my near spiritual suicide which much I have always kept to myself. However, I know that I have been forgiven and if I could be, I know anyone can be. Does my past still hurt, yes, but I understand that it comes with what I did and the important thing is that my Heavenly Father has manifested unto me that he no longer sees those sins; this is a greater gift to me than my own life. Yet, if I could go back, I would not change a thing, since out of everything I did, I ultimately learned much about the un-restraining love that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for all of us, and I grew to understand the atonement infinitely more than I would ever been taught in church.
For many the path to repentance is unclear. As members of the Lord’s church we are blessed with the knowledge of the path, yet we also have the responsibility to go forth and share this with others. We know from the Book of Mormon and the Bible that Christ is the way to repentance. “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins” (2 Nephi 25:26) Christ is the way, the truth and light and only through him can repentance come. To learn more we must search the scriptures for they are what teach us the wonders of Christ and the gift of repentance. We have many examples of those who have been changed from repentance. Whether it is Alma the younger, who sought to destroy the church with words, or Saul, one who was much more violent in his dealings. These and many others have seen the glory of Christ and his eternal gift. If the person is a member of the LDS church or of other church, if they look to Christ, they will find repentance and forgiveness.
It is true, there is a thing called the “unforgivable sin” that is taught most notably by the Apostle John. However, to commit such a thing one must have a perfect knowledge of Christ and the Holy Ghost, a thing I doubt any man could ever have since we can’t achieve perfection in this life. Also, the idea is that if one has perfect knowledge then they will never want to come back even after they committed the sin. But that is not the point, since I feel conformable in saying that there is not a sin that we as humans can commit that the Lord will not forgive.
This topic is such a dear gift and that is something I can not stress enough. I may sound like a broken record on that point, but for some things that needs to be the case. I have seen my life completely change, in every aspect; socially, culturally, religiously, politically, even down to my likes and dislikes, all because I have repented and came to Christ. If I could give all my knowledge just to have a perfect knowledge of repentance and how incredibly forgiving our Lord is, I would. I still can’t comprehend it sometimes, how by an act sins can be washed away. I have a firm testimony in this, which lead to the testimony I have for everything else in the Church. This is a direct result of a greater gift, the atonement of Christ. I know personally of his forgiveness and love, I have been blessed to have seen it. Understanding repentance, brought back my faith in Christ, and showed me the truth of this Church and the Holy scriptures. One could have all the knowledge in the world, but yet if he does not know about repentance, then, I believe, he knows nothing.