Last year, I was asked a really inspired question. It forced me to collect and interrogate my thoughts, and I want to share what I learned, but I need to ask something of you first.
Cleanse Your Palette
I’d like to try a kind of learning dialysis where you remove what you already know about something for a few minutes. If there’s truth in my thoughts, then I think you’ll find more power in what you already know. I worry that if you aren’t prepared to let go while you listen, what you already know might deafen you to what I’d like to share.
Let me put my invitation in a different way. This is the way I pack a suitcase.
This is my wife Claire’s suitcase.
Spiritually speaking, I want to unpack and re-pack a suitcase with you today to see if there is even greater capacity in your knowledge. I’m hoping by the end we will all have suitcases that look a little more like Claire’s.
The Question
This is the question I was asked: “I know that repentance allows me to access the cleansing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, but how do I access His enabling power?” [1]
Such a good question! We know not to steal, but if we do, we know how it gets put right. We repent. But what about doing good things better? What when we want to be a better friend? A better student? A better disciple? How does the gospel of Jesus Christ help with that?
Repentance
We often speak about “the Rs of repentance.” Usually five or six, but some teachers refer to as many as 10 words beginning with “R” that comprise the elements of repentance. Recognition, remorse, restitution etc.—I can’t name them all!
I want to suggest something different.
I once heard Elder Dale G. Renlund say something to the effect that you don’t really understand a truth unless you can write it as a formula. This is my effort: Repentance is more than the sum of the Rs.
The Rs of repentance can be useful but they can also constrain our thinking about repentance, perhaps over-simplifying to suggest that repentance is formulaic, or that the fruits of repentance are obtained like a vending machine immediately upon insertion of all the “R” tokens.
Now I am not at all wanting to challenge Elder Renlund’s suggestion about expressing things as a formula, but my variation on that theme is that you don’t really understand repentance unless you can explain it to your friend Ethan, so that he can draw it as a tube map!
Can you see the beautiful range of the journey of repentance? The Rs of repentance are in there, but our journey is sometimes broader, more subtle, and more tailored than a succession of checklist steps or stops on a single tube line. Our repentance allows the Savior’s power to flow into our lives and bring us cleansing, relief and peace.
Remember the question I was asked: “I know that repentance allows me to access the cleansing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, but how do I access His enabling power?”
Improving my devotion in prayer is not progress from a sinful to a clean state. Neither is being more optimistic, faith-filled, or longer in suffering. This is to increase in virtue, from a good condition to an improved condition. We might feel to say to ourselves when we find those things hard that repentance is not the solution, because repentance is for sin.
Jesus Christ can do more than cleanse us—He can heal and repair, change our hearts, and strengthen us. [2] He can make us whole. He can complete and perfect us. But how do we draw that element of His power into our need?
I believe that what we know about accessing the Lord’s cleansing power also applies to accessing His enabling power.
So here is my beef—the word repentance does not mean “to pursue cleansing.” Except, it does to us. That is all we use it for. Now, don’t misunderstand me, repentance does bring about divine cleansing. Wonderfully. Absolutely. Even perfectly. But perhaps this feels so familiar to us, that in truth, that’s all we can allow it to mean. Our highest ambition for coming to Jesus Christ on conditions of repentance [3] becomes limited to the function of ridding ourselves of guilt and the consequences of our sin. We limit the Savior’s ability to elevate us beyond forgiveness and into greater strength and purity—from a good condition to an improved condition.
I believe that we can repent to become better, not just to become cleansed. Repentance, daily repentance, will bring relief and strength from Jesus Christ in moments of suffering because of our inadequacy as well as moments of suffering because of our sin. He gives strength to overcome sin and strength to overcome self.
Consider these definitions of repentance:
From the Guide to the Scriptures: “A change of mind and heart that brings a fresh attitude toward God, oneself, and life in general.” [4]
It does not add, “But only when you have been bad!”
From the Bible Dictionary: “The Greek word of which this is the translation denotes a change of mind, a fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world. Since we are born into conditions of mortality, repentance comes to mean a turning of the heart and will to God, and a renunciation of sin to which we are naturally inclined.” [5] [6]
Can you hear anything in there that says that repentance can only be applied to sin?
President Russell M. Nelson offered us an understanding of repentance in this way: “The word for repentance in the Greek New Testament is metanoeo. 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.” [7]
Do you know how to sin by breathing? If you do, there is no prize for that, but there is a cure for it—repentance! The idea that repentance includes changing the way we breathe reminds me that although I have not learned how to breathe sinfully, I do know how to breathe better. I can use my breath to center and calm myself, to become present and slow a busy mind. Breathing can help with exertion and the conditioning of my body. I don’t know how repentance might apply to sinful breathing; it can apply to better breathing.
Taking a scriptural example from King Benjamin’s repentant people: the Redeemer did not simply remove their “disposition to do evil,” [8] but He gave them an appetite “to do good continually.” [9] Through our repentance, Jesus Christ’s power extends not simply to cancel out our sinful state but to completely invert it. [10]
Repentance might have come to mean something different, more limited, and more limiting than it should. Repenting exclusively to seek cleansing from sin is like having your dream car but only driving it in the reverse gear. Not that cleansing is a backwards use of repentance, but even if you can drive like Mater from Cars, it is still only ever about what is behind us.
Think about it with me. Why would repentance help us to be cleansed when our natural attitude is one of being an enemy to God, but stop working in our attitude to become a saint or as a little child? [11]
Repacking
Can you see that understanding repentance in this more complete way makes it so much more joyful, powerful, and applicable than if just applied to sin? The goal of repentance is for us to be made whole and complete in the full potential of our covenant promise.
Looking back at my tube map, you will see lots that might be returned to your suitcase now that you understand that the terminal destination is for us to be made new, [12] not just clean. I don’t intend to give you a finite kit list for your journey, but I’d like to speak about some items before you put them back.
Everything
First, I don’t think that the Savior holds back in response to our repentance. Neither should we. Repentance is about our whole selves. We should pursue the difference between “saying a prayer” and establishing a deep connection with God in prayer, between going without food and fasting, or between studying the scriptures and feasting on the word of God. For repentant disciples, it isn’t just about having a lamp, it’s about having the oil, too. It isn’t just about making covenants, but also knowing the covenant maker. Jesus Christ left nothing undone for us, and now He offers us everything He has. Everything we offer Him is pale by comparison, but it is enough for Him. Wholeheartedness is part of repentance.
Grace
Grace has several meanings. I would like to mention one.
I was with my dad once when he was selling something. Dad was apprehensive that there would be some difficulty haggling over price. In fact, the buyer addressed the price by saying that it was fair but then asked if dad could “show him some grace” on the price. Dad gave him a modest discount on the agreed price. The buyer had agreed that the price was fair and therefore he had no claim to demand a reduction, but dad gave him one anyway. This is the meaning of grace that I want to remind you of. Grace is beautiful because she works where fairness or justice have no power. When justice can’t, grace gives anyway. We have no right to the Lord’s saving or redeeming power, but He gives anyway—not just because He can show grace, but because He is full of grace [13] and “[His] grace is sufficient for all.” [14] Our Savior’s grace is abundant in any true understanding of repentance.
Healing
I learn about our Savior’s power of forgiveness when I consider the opportunities He took to heal. His healing and forgiveness of sins seem very closely connected on some occasions. [15] Often, our poorer choices are an attempt to soothe pain. Too often, we try and soothe our difficulties by choosing harmful counterfeits for healing. When life gets hard, feels out of control, or painful, we might be tempted to reach for outrage, food, pornography, hunger, or alcohol. President Spencer W. Kimball said, “Jesus saw sin as wrong but also was able to see sin as springing from deep and unmet needs on the part of the sinner.” [16]
The Savior once quoted Isaiah’s prophecy about His mission: “He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” [17]
When you are next tempted to behave lower than you should, ask yourself what pain you are trying to soothe? Jesus Christ can heal that pain. He can comfort during temptation. [18] Whatever “deep and unmet needs” we are trying to soothe by our baser choices, He is the only one who perfectly understands how hard it is for us, what real healing is like and how to provide it. Healing in connection with our weakness is one of the ways that we can be deeply strengthened through repentance, rather than merely experiencing an adjustment in our behavior.
Perfection
One of Satan’s prime rants is that if we do not live up to all that is expected of us, if we are in any way less than perfect, we fall under his complete control and power. That is absurd and ugly—but it is propagated by the spoiler, and sometimes we allow ourselves to be drawn in by his deception. Please, do not believe that. Sin, imperfection, and inadequacy are not the goal, but they are part of this stage of our experience in God’s plan, the plan for your salvation, the great plan for your happiness. Salvation and happiness are the goal; our flaws are a necessary part of our experience in the plan to get there, and our Savior has power to help turn all our weakness into strength. [19] Being weak does not mean we are Satan’s, it means we are capable of growth. Our weakness is God’s opportunity.
Perfection will take care of itself if we will seek the Lord’s power in our progress and our participation.
Patience
Repentance brings personal growth and strengthening. It can be a slower process than we might like. Sometimes, we are like a marathon runner who is impatient with their coach because they are offering water early on in the race when we are not thirsty. We demand to concentrate on speed and pace, feeling no need for hydration. We forget that our perfect coach knows that the fluids we take now are not for the current comfort of our mouths but for the hydration our bodies will need eight or nine miles ahead.
It may be more important to a loving and insightful Father in Heaven to give us patience before the gift we seek.
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf taught us this at the last general conference: “God knows who we truly are, who we are designed to become, and so His expectations for us are high. But He doesn’t expect us to take some grand, heroic, or superhuman leap to get there. In the world He created, growth happens gradually and patiently—but also consistently and unrelentingly. Remember, it is Jesus Christ who already did the superhuman part when He conquered death and sin. Our part is to follow the Christ. It is our part to turn away from sin, turn toward the Savior, and walk in His way, one step at a time.” [20]
The Sacrament
President Dallin H. Oaks simply taught: “We need to partake of the sacrament each Sabbath day. In that ordinance we make covenants and receive blessings that help us overcome all acts and desires that block us from the perfection our Savior invites us to achieve.“ [21]
Speaking personally, I feel an ache to receive the sacrament in connection with my need for cleansing and my need for strengthening.
Guilt
Guilt is a hard feeling, but it has its place. Guilt can be a healthy, spiritual signal that leads to change. It is the constructive feeling of discomfort from having done wrong. The feeling of guilt is similar to the physical response to exercise. It can be difficult to enjoy the feeling, but it is valuable to us.
The difficulty of guilt is also its blessing. It reminds us that we are in need. We are lifting heavy. When we feel guilt, we know we need to reach for our Savior. It might be hard, but don’t avoid that difficult invitation. When we feel incapable on our own, that’s when we qualify perfectly for this specific plea straight from the Savior’s lips: “Come unto me all ye that … are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” [22]
The Savior said to the apostle Paul, “Strength is made perfect in weakness.” [23] That is the whole point of our struggle, isn’t it? That we invite our Savior and His grace and His power into our weakness?
It is important that I should not feel guilt for someone else’s choice or for things beyond my responsibility or moral agency. I hope that that speaks for itself—if you feel guilt from someone else’s choices, please discard it.
Shame
If you have taken some shame out of your understanding of repentance and are wondering where it goes, please leave it out. All of it. Although guilt has value to us, shame does not. Shame is parasitic. It applies itself to guilt to try to turn guilt into an identity issue. Guilt lets us know when we have done something wrong. Although guilt is unpleasant, there is no shame in being wrong; we all get things wrong! But when we get something wrong, shame whispers corrosively, “I am bad” rather than “I did something bad.” Shame is the way we feel when the adversary speaks to our inadequacy, it is not a divine product. Shame is how Satan tries to drain hope from our accountability.
Shame is also a liar and works contrary to the Spirit of the Lord because it blinds us from seeing things in truth. It distorts our vision of “things as they really are and … as they really will be.” [24] Most especially, shame warps our sense of who we really are and who we really will be.
If you ever feel ashamed, like you are a burden and a disappointment to everyone, that you are not good enough to pray, that you have to hide yourself from God, from all good people—stop! Those ideas are toxic to our spirits. Bin them. They distort our true identity and poison our connection with God.
Conclusion
Can you see why my goal was not just to teach a bit more about repentance? This is not a reframing. It isn’t just about removing a blockage that is reducing flow in my repentance; it is about completely replacing the pipes for a much greater capacity so that my Savior’s power can flow more freely to me. I know. I just introduced another metaphor, and you are sitting there thinking, “So he’s saying that there’s a blockage in the underground train flow of my repentance suitcase?” I hope in my overearnest way I haven’t just created confusion. I can’t describe the telling off my mum will give me for overcomplicating this! I’ll repent, mum!
To try again to follow Elder Renlund’s advice about a formula for simplicity: Repentance is more than cleansing.
President Nelson taught that “Jesus Christ is joy.” As a formula, then: Jesus Christ equals joy.
Where a word has the prefix of “re,” it means “again” (as in redo or renew), or “turn back” (as in revert or return), or “thoroughly” to intensify the meaning of a word (as in resolve meaning intense determination or repertoire meaning things that are thoroughly learned). Jesus Christ equals joy, therefore, to repent is not equivalent to rejoice.
So, to rejoice is to turn back to, to renew or intensify our connection with Jesus Christ who is our joy. Therefore, to repent and to rejoice are not equivalent, but they are close. When I hear the command to repent, I also hear a parallel command to rejoice. Can you see how this really is the great plan of happiness? Sometimes, when the plan doesn’t seem that way, it is just about learning more about it.
Testimony
Isaiah describes our Savior as the “repairer of the breach”—He fixes all that is broken; He repairs every hole and crack. In the same verse, the Lord is also named the “restorer of paths”—to Him, we can never be lost. He provides a road back from anywhere. [25]
Wherever you find yourself on your journey of discipleship, find Him through repentance.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] David A. Bednar, “In the Strength of the Lord,” Brigham Young University devotional, October 23, 2001.
[2] Alma 19:33.
[3] Helaman 14:17-18.
[4] Guide to the Scriptures, “Repent, Repentance,” Gospel Library.
[5] Thedore M. Burton, “The Meaning of Repentance,” Ensign, November 1988.
[6] Bible Dictionary, “Repentance.”
[7] Russell M. Nelson, “We Can Do Better and Be Better,” Ensign or Liahona, April 2019, 67.
[8] Mosiah 5:2.
[9] Mosiah 4:13.
[10] Alma 36:13-21.
[11] Mosiah 3:19.
[12] Mosiah 3:19.
[13] Moses 1:6.
[14] Ether 12:27.
[15] Matthew 9:2-8 or Mark 2:1-12.
[16] Spence W. Kimball, “Jesus: The Perfect Leader,” Ensign, August 1977.
[17] Luke 4:18.
[18] Hebrews 2:18.
[19] Ether 12:27.
[20] Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Do Your Part with All Your Heart,” Liahona, October 2025.
[21] Dallin H. Oaks, “Cleansed by Repentance,” Ensign or Liahona, April 2019, 92.
[22] Matthew 11:28-29.
[23] 2 Corinthians 12:9.
[24] Jacob 4:13.
[25] Isaiah 58:12.
About Elder Karl D. Hirst
Elder Karl D. Hirst was sustained as a General Authority Seventy at the April 2024 general conference. At the time of his call, he and his wife, Claire, had been serving as FSY session directors.
Elder Hirst was a full-time missionary in the England London South Mission. He was born in Bury, Lancashire, in the United Kingdom, and married Claire Elizabeth Wright in 1993. They are the parents of six children and have four grandchildren, with another soon to arrive.