Returning to Live with Our Heavenly Father

Well, hold on a second. Doesn’t Romans 3:10 tell us that “there is none righteous, no not one”? How can there be any hope for any of us? Well, luckily, there’s a way out. If we believe upon the Savior and are baptized in his name and repent when we sin, we can enter the presence of God.

The importance of repentance

Now, repenting is more than saying just “oops, I’m sorry” and then doing it again. First of all, you should feel genuine sorrow for it. If you just go through the motions of repentance but never really cared that you sinned in the first place, then you’re not accomplishing anything. When we repent, we confess our sin to the one whom we have sinned against. If it was a private sin, then we confess to God. In the cases of serious sin (usually sexual in nature, but sometimes sins having to do with violence as well), you also confess to the bishop. Another thing to do right away is to quit doing the sin. Avoid situations where you might commit the sin and take other measures to avoid committing the same sin again. Next comes restitution. If the sin was something like stealing, the restitution could be as simple as returning the stolen object. If it was a bit more serious, finding a way to make up for it might be a bit more difficult. If you’re not sure how to make restitution for a sin, ask your bishop. Finally, keep the commandments. It won’t do you any good to try to repent of one sin and then go and commit a whole bunch of others on top of that.

Now, perhaps these aren’t the only steps to repentance. All the Lord has told us about how to repent is that we will “confess…and forsake” (D&C 58:43) the sin if we have repented. He doesn’t really explain how in the Bible, either. In context, though, He definitely wants the sin to stop; this means forsaking the sin.
Well, what if you can’t promise that you’re never going to do it again? What’s the point of trying to repent? Well, ask yourself, “What’s the point of taking a shower if I’m just going to get dirty again during the day?” If you didn’t shower often, the dirt would keep accumulating so after a long while, you’d be a smelly, dirty, disgusting greaseball. In that state, you’d need a whole lot more soap and water to get clean than if you had showered each day. Repentance is like a spiritual shower. Yes, you’ll probably get dirty again, and then you’ll need to repent again. In the meantime, you can be spiritually clean. The repenting there will be a lot easier to do than trying to repent for a lot all at once.

So by believing, getting baptized, and repenting, we can become clean to enter the presence of God. At times it may be a lot of work, but in the end it’s worth it. I leave these teachings with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

For further reading:
On the necessity of baptism:

• Acts 2:38-39
• 2 Nephi 31:4-13
• 3 Nephi 11:33-34

On repentance:

• Mosiah 4:10-12
• Alma 36:12-21
• The Miracle of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kimball