The part I have been thinking about is how I measure progress. For some time, I thought that if I have a temple recommend today and I am worthy of it, and two weeks later, I still have a temple recommend and am still worthy of it, then I have not progressed at all—that I have simply stayed the same. However, I have realized that is absolutely not true. The adversary is constantly throwing challenges and opposition at us. We are continually being enticed by one or the other: good or evil (2 Nephi 2:16). By consistently staying worthy of a temple recommend, it means that we are truly overcoming the world decision by decision (“Overcome the World and Find Rest,” President Nelson, October 2022).
We are changed in the absolute moments of life. It comes from small decisions like these: Will I get up and put this away, or will I sit on the couch a little longer? Will I read one more verse? Will I make my prayer more meaningful now, instead of saying, “I will do better next time?” Repentance is an active role we take. It is changing moment by moment.
Thus, when we study our scriptures, we are repenting, because in that moment, we are choosing to become more like Jesus Christ. It is less about just getting rid of the bad and more about putting good into our lives (Matthew 6:21–22):
“21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”
Repentance comes decision by decision. For example, the decision to serve a mission is not a one-time choice. It is a daily and even hourly choice. Will we be good right now?
C.S. Lewis put this into perspective beautifully with the following quote:
“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness—they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means—the only complete realist.”
In order to assess my progress, I ask myself questions like these, and I invite you to make them fit your own life and situation:
• Will we serve Him a little bit more?
• Will we give Him a little more of our heart?
• What will we do to completely give our hearts to Christ?
• What do we have in our hearts that is holding us back?
• How would our life look different if we made that decision now, rather than later or at the next opportunity?
• How do I want my friends, my future eternal companion, and myself to feel about me and the Savior, Jesus Christ?
• What do we have in our hearts and minds that holds us back from fully dedicating and consecrating ourselves to the Lord?
What will you do to give it up? Let the Lord in. Let Him replace the crooked with the straight. Let Him replace sorrow with peace. Let Him work in your life.
“Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.” In a paradoxical way, afflictions and sorrow prepare us to experience joy if we trust in the Lord and His plan for us. This truth is beautifully expressed by a 13th-century poet:
“Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place. It pulls up the rotten roots so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place.”
So all in all, don’t think yourself up the fact that you’re still here is a sign enough. It’s not a license for complacency or mediocrity, but rather it is an allowance for you to see what good things you with and through the power of Jesus Christ atonement have done just this past day past minute past hour. The fact that you were here and showing up is an act of repentance, which is way that you’ve turned to let God back into your life.
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