Repentance
The new topic is a pretty big one. It's always wondering where to begin. I think I'll copy an entry from the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet. I highlighted the part that stands out to me the most as an intro.
The Savior suffered for our sins and gave His life for us. This great sacrifice is called the Atonement. Through the Atonement, you can receive forgiveness and be cleansed from your sins when you repent.
Repentance is more than simply acknowledging wrongdoings. It is a change of mind and heart. It includes turning away from sin and turning to God for forgiveness. It is motivated by love for God and the sincere desire to obey His commandments.
Satan wants you to think that you cannot repent, but that is absolutely not true. The Savior has promised you forgiveness if you will humble yourself and make the effort that repentance requires. If you have sinned, the sooner you repent, the sooner you begin to make your way back and find the peace and joy that come with forgiveness. If you delay repentance, you may lose blessings, opportunities, and spiritual guidance. You may also become further entangled in sinful behavior, making it more difficult to find your way back.
First, this is a great source to begin the topic with--because it has scriptures and other links as well! Second, I have always loved how repentance is work. It isn't just an "Oh, I'm sorry!" In repentance, the person must show Heavenly Father true sorrow for what was done. Not sorrow for being caught, or for the consequences that may result from sinning. But sorrow for disobeying a loving Father who gives so much and asks so little. This will naturally lead to a desire to right one's self with the Lord again.
Also, repentance applies to temporal as well as spiritual things. I refer to repenting related to our sins against Heavenly Father's commandments. But this could work when we wrong a person in our regular lives. A simple sorry with no restitution or sorrow for the wrong doesn't mean much to the person who was wronged. And the wronged person knows the difference if the offending person is sincerely sorry for breaking the former's trust, or if they're just sorry that they got caught and weren't able to continue on in their wrong-doing. Love and sincerity are absent in the latter, and it causes a lot of pain. I know this from personal experience from just the last couple of weeks. Being the wronged person, I can tell you how much it hurts that the offender shows no true sorrow for the action, because it is an affront to me. And it shows no love or respect for me. I now have the tiniest glimpse of how our Father feels when we do not sincerely repent of the wrongs we've made against Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment