One of Satan’s greatest tactics is to convince us that once we sin we can never become clean again. It’s over. We should just give up, and give in.
Fortunately there is hope. Repentance is an extraordinary blessing given to us by our Savior. All that He endured during the Atonement I cannot possibly fathom. Yet I am forever in debt to Him for this gift. If we sin, we can receive forgiveness. We can be cleansed. We can feel the peace of the Lord. All of these things will serve to strengthen us against further temptations.
In the last several decades Satan has focused in particular on swaying teenagers to make wrong choices. You can see it in the media, in music, and in everyday peer pressure. He knows if he can get to you young, he will have a much greater hold on you as you grow up. He desperately wants you to believe once you sin there’s no way to go back.
There is a booklet called For the Strength of Youth put out by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (nicknamed the Mormon Church). In this booklet there are many vital points covered to help the teenagers of today cope with temptations and to give guidelines that will help keep you on the happy side of life.
One of these key points is the process of repentance.
“Satan wants you to think that you cannot repent, but that is absolutely not true. The Savior has promised you forgiveness if you will do what is required. The sooner you repent, the sooner you will find the blessings that come from forgiveness” (For the Strength of Youth, p.30).
The repentance process has six key elements:
1. Faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Does that surprise you a bit as the first step? Satan will try to convince you that you are no longer worthy to go to your Heavenly Father and ask for forgiveness. He will try to convince you that the sin you committed was so great it could never be forgiven. This is where faith comes into play. You need to have the faith that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ there is the power to be forgiven. You need to have the faith that your Heavenly Father is ready and willing to forgive you and help you become clean once again.
2. Sorrow for the Sin. I’m not just talking about getting caught and paying penance. You need to have a sincere sorrow for what you have done. There must be an acknowledgement of the sin and your choice to commit it. 2 Corinthians 7:10 talks of having a ‘godly sorrow.’ This type of sorrow signifies a sincere regret at having disobeyed the commandments of Heavenly Father, and a genuine hope to make a change.
3. Confession. Perhaps the hardest part of the process, yet essential if a cleansing is to take place. It is natural for us to hide away our sins, but a funny thing happens when we do. The sin doesn’t go away, but sits like a puddle of tar, sticking to everything inside. We can try to ignore it but it never goes away…until we are ready to confess. For less serious transgressions this can be done in prayer to our Heavenly Father. If our sin is more serious this needs to be done to a church leader. Be completely honest, and do it as soon as possible.
4. Abandonment of Sin. Although the confession is hard, it’s not enough to complete the process. We must also forsake the sin, step completely away from it, and flee before it.
5. Restitution. Whether you want to admit it or not, others are always damaged when we choose the wrong path. It is vital in our healing process to make restitution.
6. Righteous Living. Many times sin becomes a bad habit. If this is the case we need to replace the bad habit with something good. If the sin only happened once, we still need to fill our lives with righteous things so that temptations will have no power over us.
Repentance is not an easy process. It is, however, the only way for us to become whole again, to regain happiness, and to look upon ourselves as worthy children of God. We should always confess our sins to the Lord, and trust that He will help us find our way back to our Heavenly Father. We need to trust in His promise:
“He who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more” (D&C 58:42).
When we successfully come through the process of repentance the Lord will remember our sins ‘no more.’ This doesn’t mean we should forget, otherwise there was no lesson learned. The blessing comes in no longer feeling that sorrow, and in being able to start over with a clean soul.
It is up to us, however, to take that first step.
