“And every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand— And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
This is where it ends for most people. They “hear” what Christ has to say, but they don’t “do” anything to change what they are, how they live, or if they will repent.
We are all in need of repentance, more or less continually. Repentance is required for a lifetime.
There comes a point when passions and tempers cool with age. But for most people, even with the Lord’s help, it will be some time before they obtain the upper hand on their weaknesses. What is it, then, that repentance does to cure us?
To repent is to turn to Him. To turn to Him is to face Him, listen to Him, heed Him and pay attention to what He is, says, does. It is to seek to be in contact with Him.
If you are in contact with Him, He will teach you all things you should do. (2 Nephi 32: 6.) Constant contact between you and Him can and will occupy your desires, thoughts and deeds. But turning to face Him is left to you. He cannot enter where He is not invited. He may want to be a part of your life more than you want Him to. It is your choice to let Him in.
Hearing alone will not save you. Doing is the thing which saves.
Implicit in this is that there is no new great secret you need to uncover in order to be built upon His rock. It is only necessary to do what you already know needs to be done. Discovering mysteries, particularly borrowed ones from others who have had them revealed to them, is little more than eavesdropping on a conversation you have not been invited to share. It avails you nothing. Go have your own conversation with Him.
The means to having that conversation is within your grasp. Do what you already understand is required of you. I’m not speaking of a list of do’s and don’ts out of some church manual. I’m talking about asking with real intent, repenting and seeking to have His will revealed to you. Act without hypocrisy. Be willing to take upon you His wishes for you. We’ve been going through that for months now. It is the “system” He has ordained for us can come to Him. It is not enough to hear it, or read it. It must be done. So do it.
Some people have reacted to the earlier discussion on this blog about rebaptism as if that were a radical idea. It is only taken from the Book of Mormon. I noted, however, that in the early church of this era, it was customary to be rebaptized. There was a time when stake presidents were told to issue temple recommends to members after they were rebaptized. However radical it may seem today, it is not foreign either to the Book of Mormon or to practices of the church in this dispensation.
Most of you have more than enough left undone at the moment. You needn’t find some new tidbit if you have not become a “doer” of the things already in your possession.
When the Lord asks anything of you, do it. Do it even when it is something you would greatly prefer not to do, because that is when He will draw close to you.