The Repentance Imperative

I had an insight into a scripture during my reading. I read these verses:

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day: Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them: I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
(3 Nephi 14:21-23)

The point of this scripture is to show us how necessary repentance is. Christ tells us that people are going to say to Him, “But we bore testimony of you! We converted people and baptized people! We administered priesthood blessings to people! We did all kinds of service for your sake!”

Unfortunately, while they did lots of good things, they also did lots of bad things too, things that they didn’t think it was necessary to repent of. And their filthiness disqualifies them from entering the kingdom of heaven, because not only is the will of the Father that we do good things, but also that we repent of all our sins through the Atonement of Christ.

So, it is more necessary for me to repent of my sins than it is to be instrumental in converting someone. It is more necessary for me to repent of my sins than to bear testimony. It is more necessary to repent of my sins than it is to do noble works of love. Repentance is so important, it is the work that must come before all else. (Except it comes after faith in Christ.)

Because of this I am very happy that Heavenly Father shows me my faults. It means I know what to repent of! Yaaaaay!