The message of the Book of Mormon is
really one message: to make the decision
here and now to accept the Lord's timing and keep His commandments. President Packer put it this way, "Most
of you have been taught the gospel all your lives. All of you know the difference between good
and evil, between right and wrong. Isn't
it time then that you decide that you're going to do right? In so doing you're making a choice. Not just a
choice, but you're making the
choice. Once you've decided that, with
no fingers crossed, no counterfeiting, no reservations or hesitancy, the rest will all fall
into place."
Elder Maxwell said the same thing, but
in a different way: "I do not
believe that any soul can be exalted
that does not sacrifice every choice and action to the Lord--broken
heart, contrite spirit." These two
quotes sound like they're talking about somewhat different things, but they are
not. The
choice that President Packer refers to is the choice to sacrifice every
decision and action to the Lord. It is
the choice that I believe constitutes what it means to be born again. The prophets through the ages have all made
this decision. Even though only a hundredth
part of the Nephite history was recorded, much of what we do have documents
their experiences of rebirth. Nephi made
such a choice before he decided to kill Laban.
Enos did the same through long, devoted prayer. King Benjamin's people, who were already
baptized members of the Church, made "a covenant with [their] God to do
his will, and to be obedient to his commandments..." Alma the Younger made such a decision when he
was in the "gall of bitterness" and later proclaimed that he was born
of God (Mosiah 27:28).
Modern
prophets are not exempt. Some have
shared their stories of spiritual rebirth in General Conference. All have testified of the divinity of the
Savior and have dedicated their lives to Him.
One of the best descriptions of the decision to dedicate everything to
God was written by C. S. Lewis,
"Christ says “Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much
of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment
your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want
to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree
down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it
out. Hand over the natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as
well as the ones you think wicked – the whole outfit. I will give you a new
self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.”
The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your
whole self – all your wishes and precautions – to Christ. But it is far easier
than what we are all trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do is to
remain what we call “ourselves,” to keep personal happiness as our great aim in
life, and yet at the same time be “good.”
For
thousands of years men of God offered animal sacrifices. We often shrug this off, saying something
like "When Christ came he ended animal sacrifices. Now all he asks of us is a broken heart and
contrite spirit--having good intentions, or something like that." Some part of us believes that the sacrifice
of a broken heart and contrite spirit is easier than animal sacrifice. Those who think that way don't understand
Christianity. The sacrifice He asks of
us today is even greater than the ones proscribed before His death. And not only is that sacrifice important, it
is mandatory for our reception into the Kingdom of God.
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