Perfection from Repentance

    God’s eternal mission is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). Because of his love for us and how much he has gifted us, he is deeply saddened when we don’t use the tools he gave us. He wants us to become like him.

    In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus Christ suffered not only the consequences of our sins, but every pain, affliction, and temptation that his people have ever felt (Isaiah 53:3-5, Alma 7:11). He did this all to give us an amazing gift that is shunned, rejected, and even despised by so many. Many do this because they do not understand what Christ teaches. The Atonement gives us the ability to repent or, in other words, change from following our bodily wants to becoming like God in every sense of the word.

    The scriptures are always focused on two things: Christ, and turning towards him. The very way we do this is by repentance. It is repentance that allows Christ to save us. Unfortunately, there are many misconceptions that Satan has spread about repentance; some of them I was taught in primary and others I hear over the pulpit in church. It’s so important to understand what repentance is and how it relates to the Atonement because it helps you avoid these false doctrines that lead to more pain and heartache than God ever required.

    One of the most important misconceptions, and one that helped inspire me to write this, is that Christ saves us “after all we can do”. The mistake is simple to make after a surface level reading of 2 Nephi 25:23. Without proper study, you may think that you have to reach a certain bar before Christ can save you; that somehow your actions will help Christ save you. This can lead to toxic perfectionism and feelings like, “I’m not good enough”.

    Our church doesn’t teach this at all. Carefully reading the scriptures will clearly indicate that nothing you do will save you. A better way to read this verse would be something like, “even after everything you do, it is God’s grace that saves you”. Reading more scripture will help you understand this conclusion better. Maybe the most obvious of which is 2 Nephi 2:8,

there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah.

    There are numerous other good verses that teach this. As was mentioned on an episode of the Follow Him podcast, searching for mentions of merits with regard to salvation in the Book of Mormon will always lead to Jesus Christ and only Jesus Christ. It is only by the merits of Jesus Christ, and not our own that saves us. It is only by the power of his atonement and only by the love of our Redeemer that we are saved. Our works do not contribute to our salvation; instead, they contribute to our exaltation.

An amazing book about this subject was recently written by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf and is titled “After all we can do”. I would seriously recommend reading this book for more on the topic of Repentance.

    An important question often arises after learning these things: Why does repentance matter then? Aren’t those Protestants who claim you just need to accept Jesus Christ right then? The importance, and difference between ours and others’ religions, is salvation vs. exaltation. While you need repentance from your sins to be saved from hell (Alma 11:37), you will also need repentance to achieve exaltation. Through the help of Jesus Christ and his Atonement, we can become perfected and like unto Him as commanded in the scriptures (3 Nephi 12:48, Moroni 10:32). Jesus Christ and God our Father both want us to not only be saved, but exalted on high. They want us to inherit their Celestial Glory.

    Our ability to repent of our sins allows us to draw closer to Christ and to feel his love. Sin never contributes to happiness (Alma 41:10). Real happiness comes from serving and loving others; it comes from following the teachings of our Savior. The peace and joy that come from them are only made possible through the Atonement of the Holy One of Israel and our continued repentance. Repentance isn’t here to cause pain; repentance is designed for our happiness. It offers us the amazing joy of living with God again!

    God has provided a beautiful plan that teaches us how to not only be saved from pain and punishment, but to become like him. He has provided us the Atonement, and a method to use it which is the Gospel of Repentance. I have read the scriptures and felt the Holy Ghost, and I know they testify of these things; each story or teaching from them guides us closer to him. The most important thing to take away from all of this is to study the scriptures and find out these truths for yourself.