2019
Cleansed by Repentance (excerpts)
May 2019


“Cleansed by Repentance (excerpts),” New Era, May 2019, 10–11.

Cleansed by Repentance (excerpts)

Image
Jesus Christ praying at Gethsemane

Detail from Gethsemane (Jesus Is My Light), by Jorge Cocco

The atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ opens the door for “all men [to] repent and come unto him” (Doctrine and Covenants 18:11). …

Repentance begins with our Savior, and it is a joy, not a burden. …

We begin with faith in Jesus Christ, because “it is he that cometh to take away the sins of the world” (Alma 5:48). We must repent because, as Alma taught, “except ye repent ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of heaven” (Alma 5:51). Repentance is an essential part of God’s plan. …

To be cleansed by repentance, we must forsake our sins and confess them to the Lord and to His mortal judge where required (see Doctrine and Covenants 58:43). Alma taught that we must also “bring forth works of righteousness” (Alma 5:35). All of this is part of the frequent scriptural invitation to come unto Christ.

We need to partake of the sacrament each Sabbath day. In that ordinance we make covenants and receive blessings that help us overcome all acts and desires that block us from the perfection our Savior invites us to achieve. …

In the Lord’s Church, mortal judgments for members or prospective members are administered by leaders who seek divine direction. It is their responsibility to judge persons who are seeking to come unto Christ to receive the power of His Atonement on the covenant path to eternal life. …

… The ultimate accountability, including the final cleansing effect of repentance, is between each of us and God. …

The judgment most commonly described in the scriptures is the Final Judgment that follows the Resurrection. …

To assure that we will be clean before God, we must repent before the Final Judgment. … The Atonement of Jesus Christ gives us the only way to achieve the needed cleansing through repentance, and this mortal life is the time to do it. …

Overarching God’s plan and all of His commandments is His love for each of us. … Our loving Savior opens His arms to receive all men and women on the loving conditions He has prescribed to enjoy the greatest blessings God has for His children.

Because of God’s plan and the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I testify with a “perfect brightness of hope” [2 Nephi 31:20] that God loves us and we can be cleansed by the process of repentance.