Day 330 Repentance: Embracing Christ's Open Arms

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus tells his followers that they are the salt of the earth, and in the same sentence offers a warning that savorless salt is good for nothing. Join me in an attempt to be savory salt as I share each day one verse of scripture and one small thought. Perhaps this small daily emphasis can lead to greater savor in your life and ultimately you and I can be savory salt.

Hello, my friends and family, wherever you're listening from. Thank you for joining me and know that I'm cheering for your every success. Oh, ye fair ones.

Welcome to day 330 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon together. My goodness, we are getting so close to finishing this amazing record. Today, you're going to be reading from the Book of Mormon.

I hope you can feel and hear the message that Mormon has for each one of us as he sits and reflects and beholds the entire destruction of his people. This is, in effect, the end of the Book of Mormon in terms of the Lamanites and the Nephites. Today in Mormon 6, we're going to be looking at a verse of reflection and also a verse that I believe is a call to us as well.

We're going to look at Mormon chapter 6, verse 17. It says, "O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord? O ye fair ones, how could ye have rejected that Jesus who stood with open arms to receive you?" Can you hear Mormon at this point in his sorrow and his pleading and wondering how his people could have rejected Jesus Christ?

Now there's some interesting nods to this. "O ye fair ones" is really interesting because through kind of an ancient Egyptian, and we know the Book of Mormon is written in a form of reformed Egyptian, Nephi—the name *Nephi*—means good or beautiful, or we could possibly even translate it as "fair one." And so in a poetic way here Mormon turns to the Nephites, literally saying, "Nephites, how could you have departed?" Now the message that Mormon gives us is constant. It is a message that we should turn to the Lord to have faith in Him and to repent. In 2019, President Nelson made it very clear in the April conference, speaking about "We Can Do Better and Be Better" and the need for daily repentance in our lives.

We talked about this one before and I want to read a segment from his talk, and then you can go and research it through the link that I leave in the podcast episode here: "Many people consider repentance as punishment—something to be avoided except in the most serious circumstances. But this feeling of being penalized is engendered by Satan. He tries to block us from looking to Jesus Christ, who stands with open arms, hoping and willing to heal, forgive, cleanse, strengthen, purify, and sanctify us.

The word 'repentance' in the Greek New Testament is *metanoeō*. The prefix *meta-* means 'change.' The suffix *noeo* is related to Greek words that mean mind, knowledge, spirit, and breath. Thus, when Jesus asks you and me to repent, He is inviting us to change our mind, our knowledge, our spirit, even the way we breathe.

He is asking us to change the way we love, think, serve, spend our time, treat our wives, teach our children, and even care for our bodies. 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." My friends, those are words of a living prophet of God. I testify to their truthfulness.

I have found greater happiness and peace of mind in my life as I have sought the counsel from an ancient prophet, Mormon, to a modern prophet, President Nelson, to seek to repent daily in my life. I hope it is changing me. I hope it's changing my mind and my knowledge.

I hope it's changing my spirit. I hope the way that I breathe is changing as I seek to have the Savior in my life and repent on a daily basis. We got this.

That's all for today, my friends. Remember that, "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass." Keep it small, keep it simple, and always seek to be savory salt. I'll be here tomorrow, and I hope you are too.