Repentance
Neal A. Maxwell
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
With you, I rejoice in the testimony and talent of these new
Brethren.
For some months, I’ve tried to emphasize repentance, one of the
most vital and merciful doctrines of the kingdom. It is too little understood,
too little applied by us all, as if it were merely a word on a bumper sticker.
Since we have been told clearly by Jesus what manner of men and women we ought
to become—even as He is (see 3 Ne. 27:27)—how can we do so, except each of
us employs repentance as the regular means of personal progression? Personal
repentance is part of taking up the cross daily. (See Luke 9:23.) Without it, clearly there could be
no “perfecting of the Saints.” (Eph. 4:12.)
Besides, there is more individuality in those who are more holy.
Sin, on the other hand, brings sameness; it shrinks us to
addictive appetites and insubordinate impulses. For a brief surging, selfish
moment, sin may create the illusion of individuality, but only as in the
grunting, galloping Gadarene swine! (See Matt. 8:28–32.)
Repentance is a rescuing, not a dour doctrine. It is available
to the gross sinner as well as to the already-good individual striving for
incremental improvement.
Repentance requires both turning away from evil and turning to
God. (See Deut. 4:30; see also Bible Dictionary, s.v.
“Repentance.”) When “a mighty change” is required, full repentance involves a 180-degree
turn, and without looking back! (Alma 5:12–13.) Initially, this turning
reflects progress from telestial to terrestrial behavior, and later on to
celestial behavior. As the sins of the telestial world are left behind, the
focus falls ever more steadily upon the sins of omission, which often keep us
from full consecration.
Real repentance involves not a mechanical checklist, but a
checkreining of the natural self. Often overlapping and mutually reinforcing,
each portion of the process of repentance is essential. This process rests on
inner resolve but is much aided by external support.
There can be no repentance without recognition of
wrong. Whether by provocation, introspection, or wrenching remembrance, denial
must be dissolved. As with the prodigal son who finally “came to himself” (Luke 15:17), the first rays of recognition
help us begin to see “things as they really are” (Jacob 4:13), including distinguishing between
the motes and beams. Recognition is a sacred moment, often accompanied by the
hot blush of shame.
After recognition, real remorse floods
the soul. This is a “godly sorrow,” not merely the “sorrow of the world” nor
the “sorrowing of the damned,” when we can no longer “take happiness in sin.” (2 Cor. 7:10; Morm. 2:13.) False remorse instead is like
“fondling our failings.” In ritual regret, we mourn our mistakes but without
mending them.
There can be no real repentance without personal suffering and
the passage of sufficient time for the needed cleansing and turning. This is
much more than merely waiting until feelings of remorse subside. Misery, like
adversity, can have its special uses. No wonder chastening is often needed
until the turning is really under way! (See D&C 1:27; Hel. 12:3.)
Real remorse quickly brings forth positive indicators, “fruits
meet for repentance.” (Matt. 3:8; see also Acts 26:20; Alma 5:54.) “In process of time,” these fruits
bud, blossom, and ripen.
True repentance also includes confession: “Now
therefore make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers.” (Ezra 10:11.) One with a broken heart will not
hold back. As confession lets the sickening sin empty out, then the Spirit
which withdrew returns to renew.
Support from others is especially crucial now. Hence, we are
directed to be part of a caring community in which we all “lift up the hands
which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.” (D&C 81:5.) Did not the citizens of the
unequaled City of Enoch so improve together “in process of time?” (Moses 7:21; Moses 7:68–69.)
All sins are to be confessed to the Lord, some to a Church
official, some to others, and some to all of these. A few may require public
confession. Confessing aids forsaking. We cannot expect to sin publicly and
extensively and then expect to be rescued privately and quickly, being beaten
“with only a few stripes.” (D&C 42:88–93.)
In real repentance, there is the actual forsaking of
sinning. “Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity
shall not be your ruin.” (Ezek. 18:30.) A suffering Korihor confessed,
“I always knew that there was a God,” but his turning was still incomplete (Alma 30:52); hence, “Alma said unto him: If
this curse should be taken from thee thou wouldst again lead away the hearts of
this people.” (Alma 30:55.)
Thus, when “a man repenteth of his sins—behold, he will confess
them and forsake them.” (D&C 58:43.)
Genuine support and love from others—not isolation—are needed to
sustain this painful forsaking and turning!
Restitution is
required, too.
“Because he hath sinned, … he shall restore that which he took
violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which
was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found.” (Lev. 6:4.)
Sometimes, however, restitution is not possible in real terms,
such as when one contributed to another’s loss of faith or virtue. Instead, a
subsequent example of righteousness provides a compensatory form of
restitution.
In this rigorous process, so much clearly depends upon meekness.
Pride keeps repentance from even starting or continuing. Some fail because they
are more concerned with the preservation of their public image than with having
Christ’s image in their countenances! (Alma 5:14.) Pride prefers cheap repentance,
paid for with shallow sorrow. Unsurprisingly, seekers after cheap repentance
also search for superficial forgiveness instead of real reconciliation. Thus,
real repentance goes far beyond simply saying, “I’m sorry.”
In the anguishing process of repentance, we may sometimes feel
God has deserted us. The reality is that our behavior has isolated us from Him.
Thus, while we are turning away from evil but have not yet turned fully to God,
we are especially vulnerable. Yet we must not give up, but, instead, reach out
to God’s awaiting arm of mercy, which is outstretched “all the day long.” (Jacob 5:47; Jacob 6:4; 2 Ne. 28:32; Morm. 5:11.) Unlike us, God has no restrictive
office hours.
No part of walking by faith is more difficult than walking the
road of repentance. However, with “faith unto repentance,” we can push
roadblocks out of the way, moving forward to beg God for mercy. (Alma 34:16.) True contrition brings full
capitulation. One simply surrenders, caring only about what God thinks, not
what “they” think, while meekly offering, “O God, … make thyself known unto me,
and I will give away all my sins to know thee.” (Alma 22:18.) Giving away all our sins is the
only way we can come to know God.
In contrast, those who hold back some of their sins will be held
back. So will those who refuse to work humbly and honestly with the Lord’s
appointed. Partial disclosure to appointed leaders brings full accountability.
The Prophet Joseph said, “We ought to … keep nothing back.” (The
Words of Joseph Smith, ed. Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook,
Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1980, p. 7.)
Reflective of our total progression, repentance is not solely
for renouncing transgression. For instance, Moses was a righteous and
remarkable man. Nevertheless, he needed to change his leadership style for his
welfare as well as the people’s. (See Ex. 18:17–19.) Moses succeeded because he was
the most meek man upon the face of the earth. (See Num. 12:3.) Blessed are the meek, for they are
neither easily offended by counsel nor aggravated by admonition. If we were
more meek, brothers and sisters, repentance would be much more regular and less
stared at.
Our deficiencies of style usually reflect an underdeveloped
Christian attribute, as when a chronically poor listener exhibits a lack of
love or meekness. You and I are too quick to forgive ourselves in matters of
style.
Even when free of major transgression, we can develop
self-contentment instead of seeking self-improvement. This was once true of
Amulek, who later acknowledged, “I was called many times and I would not hear;
therefore I knew concerning these things, yet I would not know; therefore I
went on rebelling against God.” (Alma 10:4–6.)
Given the relevancy of repentance as a principle of progress for
all, no wonder the Lord has said to His servants multiple times that the thing
of greatest worth would be to cry repentance to this generation! (See D&C 6:9; D&C 14:8; D&C 15:6.)
Still other things stubbornly impede repentance, such as our not
being reproved early on, when we might have been less proud and more able to
recognize our need to change. (See D&C 121:43.) In such situations, truly “no
man cared for my soul.” (Ps. 142:4.)
Or we may be too filled with self-pity, that sludge in which sin
sprouts so easily, or too invested in self-reinforcing behavior to turn away
from it.
Or we can be too preoccupied with “pleasing … the carnal mind” (Alma 30:53), which always insistently asks,
“What have you done for me lately?” We can also be too unforgiving, refusing to
reclassify others. Yet “he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses
standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater
sin.” (D&C 64:9.) We cannot repent for someone
else. But we can forgive someone else, refusing to hold hostage those whom the
Lord seeks to set free!
Ironically, some believe the Lord can forgive them, but they
refuse to forgive themselves. We are further impeded at times simply because we
have not really been taught why and how to repent.
As we do repent, however, special assurances await: “Though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isa. 1:18.)
“All his transgressions … shall not be mentioned unto him.” (Ezek. 18:22.)
“I, the Lord, remember [their sins] no more”! (D&C 58:42.)
Along with all the foregoing reasons for our individual
repentance, Church members have a special rendezvous to keep, brothers and
sisters. Nephi saw it. One future day, he said, Jesus’ covenant people,
“scattered upon all the face of the earth,” will be “armed with righteousness
and with the power of God in great glory.” (1 Ne. 14:14.) This will happen, but only after
more members become more saintly and more consecrated in conduct.
There are some tutoring lines in one of our favorite hymns:
Come
unto Jesus, ye heavy laden,
Care-worn
and fainting, by sin oppressed.
He’ll
safely guide you unto that haven
Where
all who trust him may rest. …
Come
unto Jesus; He’ll ever heed you,
Though
in the darkness you’ve gone astray.
His
love will find you and gently lead you
From
darkest night into day.
Brothers and sisters, we need never mistake local cloud cover
for general darkness. The Atoning Light of the world saw to that. It was for
our sake that perfectly remarkable Jesus was perfectly consecrated. Jesus let
His own will be totally “swallowed up in the will of the Father.” If you and I
would come unto Jesus, we must likewise yield to God, holding nothing back.
Then other soaring promises await!
The prophet Mormon declared that Jesus waits “with open arms to
receive [us]” (Morm. 6:17), while the unrepentant and the
unconsecrated will never know that ultimate joy described by Mormon, who knew
whereof he spoke, of being “clasped in the arms of Jesus” (Morm. 5:11).
May God help each of us to so live now in order to merit that
marvelous moment then is my prayer for myself—for all of us—in the holy name of
the Great Redeemer, even Jesus Christ, amen!
“Loneliness
in Travails”
cji
9/1/18
Empty is
the world of despair
seeking to
return to the light
lost in
this difficult accountability
banging
into walls of the past
thinking
a foothold found
only
slipping in the mire
washing
in vain over again
buried
into service yet lost
loneliness
in travails journey
seeking
only the light dim
to
become brightened more
this
world of despair is empty!
Copyright © 2018 – cji
