Repentance: An Open Invitation

(Elder Cummings)

This week has been a blast.  I have seen so many people I know which has actually been a little strange.  I saw both Elder Nick Alvarez from New Jersey and Elder Logan Maloy from Illinois just yesterday.  It is so nice to see people you love doing something that you know will make them happy.

We got our flight plans this last Friday.  All the Hmong Elders but me and one other leave the 8th before 4:00am.  Elder Ferguson and I leave the next day, he goes at 4:45 and I go at 6:00.  By the end of the day I will be in Fresno California where I will be for the next two years.  Wow.

The topic that has been on my mind this week is repentance.  As I have pondered the topic I have started to appreciate it a lot more.  As missionaries our purpose is to "invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end" (Preach My Gospel, p. 1).  Understanding the gospel of Jesus Christ is essential to serving as a missionary and repentance is an essential part of that gospel.

I have come to the conclusion that repentance is more than just being cleansed of sins through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  Repentance is an open invitation to rise up from our fallen state and develop celestial character.  In Mormon theology we believe that the purpose of our existence is to become like God.  We believe that God is the literal father of our souls.  Just as mortal fathers do not intend for their children to have it all worse off than they do, God does not want for us to have less than all He has.  In Matthew 7:11 we read "if ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"  Family relationships in this life are patterned after those we have in Heaven with our Father and Mother who are in Heaven.

To live with them again we have to become like them.  We have to have the character of Christ, we have to put off the natural man and become a saint through the Atonement of Jesus Christ the Lord (Mosiah 3:19).  Christ showed us by his example how we must live to return to live with God, and there to inherit all our Father has.  Christ made the way possible for us to become better people. For "all we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way" and in doing so we have turned away from God (Isaiah 53:5).  Because of this "it is expedient that an atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish...except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made" (Alma 34:9).

Through the Atonement and through repentance we have to opportunity to be better each day, to become more like God each day.  Repentance is not just about cleaning up our actions, but it is "to change our thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors that are not in harmony with [God's] will" (Preach My Gospel p. 62).

I invite you all to look at your lives and make the decision to repent, or in other words, to make the decision to know God better.  Repentance necessitates learning better who God is and our relationship with Him as His literal spirit children.  I know and bear testimony that true happiness is found only in living in accordance with God's will.  Repentance is the process by which our will is brought in line with God's.  Repentance is the process by which we become more godlike.  When we repent we change from living in disobedience to obedience.  Obedience is the only way to receive blessings (D&C 130:20-21).  Blessings, as define by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are "anything contributing to true happiness, well-being, or prosperity" (The Guide to the Scriptures; "Bless, Blessed, Blessing).  I invite you all to repent.  I invite you all to live happier lives.  I promise that you will.  The Lord's way is the only way to eternal joy.  If you do not yet know the Lord's way I invite you to learn.  It is the only way. 

The Lord Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.  He is our brother and our friend.  I leave this testimony with you in His sacred name, amen.

- Elder Jared Cummings