"But if ye will repent and return unto the Lord your God I will turn away mine anger, saith the Lord; yea, thus saith the Lord, blessed are they who will repent and turn unto me, but wo unto him that repenteth not." (Helaman 13:11)
For the longest time I misunderstood what repentance really is all about. I had wrongly believed that repentance was about beating myself up and that there was a penalty I needed to pay even after repenting. But I was so wrong! Repentance is really about returning to God, about turning my heart and will to God. True repentance brings a "fresh attitude toward God, oneself, and life in general." (Repent) Isn't that awesome?!
Repentance is all about the direction I am going. When I think about repentance now, I envision myself on a path and I do 180 degree turn. I turn in the direction of a loving and merciful God who is rejoicing because I choose to move forward, towards Him and in so doing He helps me all along the way back to Him. Indeed, "joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance" (Luke 15:7). There are no "just persons", we all need to repent and return to God. God is rejoicing over me and you, when we return to Him. From my own experience I know that "repent is perhaps the most hopeful and encouraging word in the Christian vocabulary" (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland).
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| This is a quote from an awesome talk by Jeffrey R. Holland, "Broken Things to Mend" |
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