Focus on Daily Repentance

After writing the allegory of the tame and wild olive trees, Jacob gave us this powerful invitation: “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I beseech of you in words of soberness that ye would repent, and come with full purpose of heart, and cleave unto God as he cleaveth unto you.” Likening us to the trees of the allegory, he questioned us: “For behold, after ye have been nourished by the good word of God all the day long, will ye bring forth evil fruit, that ye must be hewn down and cast into the fire?” Thus, one of the questions that the allegory should cause us to ask is this: what kind of fruit will I bring forth? Ultimately what the Lord of the vineyard cared about most was the fruit that was produced, symbolic of our righteousness. And so, if we want to bring forth good fruit, we must repent, changing our evil natures to become more like Him. Jacob said again, “O then, my beloved brethren, repent ye, and enter in at the strait gate, and continue in the way which is narrow, until ye shall obtain eternal life” (Jacob 6:5, 7, 11). All of the pruning and digging and grafting and dunging of the trees by the Lord of the vineyard and his servant was so that the trees would bring forth the good fruit; all that the Lord and His servants do for us today is to inspire us to repent and turn to the Savior.

                Like Jacob, President Nelson has sought to help us focus more on repentance as a Church. He has in particular added the idea of “daily repentance” to our vocabulary through his teachings. He introduced the idea in an address to the brethren of the Church in the April 2019 general conference: “Nothing is more liberating, more ennobling, or more crucial to our individual progression than is a regular, daily focus on repentance. Repentance is not an event; it is a process. It is the key to happiness and peace of mind. When coupled with faith, repentance opens our access to the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ…. Experience the strengthening power of daily repentance—of doing and being a little better each day…. Daily repentance is the pathway to purity, and purity brings power…. Make your focus on daily repentance so integral to your life that you can exercise the priesthood with greater power than ever before.”

This idea of daily repentance was relatively new from what I can tell. I can find only four times before that talk where we were invited to repent daily in a talk in general conference since 1970. In October 1986 Elder Marvin J. Ashton taught, “A truly wise person will constantly move forward, striving for self-improvement, knowing that daily repentance is needed for progress.” In October 2014 Elder Jorg Klebingat taught, “The very moment you voluntarily choose honest, joyful, daily repentance by striving to simply do and be your very best, the Savior’s Atonement envelops and follows you.” In October 2016 Sister Linda S. Reeves said, “Oh, how I want each of my children, grandchildren, and each of you, my brothers and sisters, to feel the joy and closeness to Heavenly Father and to our Savior as we daily repent of our sins and weaknesses.” In October 2017 Elder Ian S. Arden invited us, “Our spiritual roots go deeper as sincere personal and family prayer become bastions of our faith and as we repent daily, seek the companionship of the Holy Ghost, and learn of our Savior and His attributes and strive to become like Him.”

Of course, the idea of repentance has been taught countless times during this period, but the idea that we should focus on daily repentance seems to be particularly important for us today. Ever since President Nelson gave that message, we have been invited repeatedly to repent daily in the messages of general conference. A quick search reveals that in at least 25 different conference talks after President Nelson’s initial invitation we have been asked to repent daily:   

·         October 2019: President Eyring, President Ballard

·         April 2020: President Nelson, Elder Clayton, Elder Tai

·         October 2020: President Nelson

·         April 2021: Elder Cook

·         October 2021: Elder Cook, Elder Kyungu

·         April 2022: President Nelson, President Eyring, Elder Ochoa, Elder Hamilton, Elder Ojediran

·         October 2022: President Nelson, Elder Cook, Elder Pino

·         April 2023: Sister Cordon, Elder Bassett, Elder Christensen

·         Oct 2023: President Eyring, Elder Andersen, Sister Freeman

·         April 2024: Elder Renlund, Sister Spannaus 

So, in every single general conference since President Nelson taught us the importance of repenting daily, the invitation has been repeated to us (and often multiple times). President Nelson has himself repeated it multiple times including this invitation in October 2022: “We cultivate faith in Jesus Christ by repenting daily and keeping covenants that endow us with power. We stay on the covenant path and are blessed with spiritual strength, personal revelation, increasing faith, and the ministering of angels.” Given the recent focus on this idea, clearly it is time for us accept the invitation to repent daily, and as Jacob wrote, come with full purpose of heart to the Lord!