President Russell M. Nelson once asked the question: “Does everyone need to repent?” Then he answered himself: “The answer is yes.”
That’s right, every person on earth—you, me, even the prophet himself—needs to repent! We shouldn’t worry about other peoples’ repentance, because that’s none of our business. But do we repent of our sins each day?
Some sins are bad things that we’ve done. But it’s also a sin when we should have done something good but didn’t. You might be thinking, “Yikes, all of a sudden I realize I’ve sinned a lot today!” Well, calm down. The amazing news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ already paid for all of these sins, both the bad things we’ve done and the good things we didn’t do.
As we turn away from these sins and turn to God instead, we feel the Spirit help us become clean again. This daily progression is what life is all about.
As President Nelson said, “repentance is not an event; it is a process. It is the key to happiness and peace of mind.” So keep trying! Today, and tomorrow, and the day after that. God is shaping you into something more amazing than you can imagine.
The Prophet Teaches: Repentance, Part 2
Notes
Read more in Russell M. Nelson’s talk “We Can Do Better and Be Better” from April 2019 general conference.