"Repenting into His Arms"
Alma 5:32 -62
Taught by Karen P.
Alma's questions from last weeks "A Mighty Change of Heart" lesson are not designed to engender guilt as much as to inspire and motivate us to righteousness, to help us experience a change of heart, and ultimately to become like Christ. When we give our hearts to the Lord we become as He is - His will is our will, His joy is our joy, and His work is our work.
What could be more wonderful?
Elder Bruce C. Hafen has written, "The great Mediator asks for our repentance not because we must 'repay' him in exchange for his paying our debt to justice, but because repentance initiates a developmental process that, with the Savior's help, leads us along the path to a saintly character"
Elder Dallin H. Oaks has said, referring the President Spencer W. Kimball's explanation, "The repenting sinner must suffer for his sins, but this suffering has a different purpose than punishment or payment. Its purpose in Change."
Elder Neil L Andersen of the Quorum of the 12 apostles said: The invitation to repent is rarely a voice of chastisement but rather a loving appeal to turn around and to "re-turn" toward God It is the beckoning of a loving Father and His Only Begotten Son to be more than we are, to reach up to a higher way of life, to change, and to feel the happiness of keeping the commandments. Being disciples of Christ, we rejoice in the blessing of repenting and the joy of being forgiven. They become part of us, shaping the way we think and feel."
Elder Neal A. Maxwell, encouraged us by saying: "Now may I speak...to those buffeted by false insecurity, who, though laboring devotedly in the Kingdom, have recurring feelings of falling forever short...this feeling of inadequacy is...normal. There is no way the Church can honestly describe where we must yet go and what we must yet do without creating a sense of immense distance...We can contemplate how far we have already come in the climb along the pathway to perfection, it is usually much further than we acknowledge, and such reflections restore resolve...We can allow for the reality that God is still more concerned with growth than with geography...This is a gospel fo grand expectation, but God's grace is sufficient for each of us if we remember that there are no instant Christians"
He's promised to make up our shortfall.
Do the best you can and find joy in the
Saviors Love!
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