Repentance is the Center of Our Eternal Existence

"Love is the first and great commandment in the law."

 

"Faith is the first principle of the Gospel."

 

"To obey is better than to sacrifice."

So, what is the most important aspect of mortality? 

I submit that it is repentance - not the type of "steps of repentance" we often discuss, but the pure heart of the word itself.  Here is why:

At its root, repentance means nothing more than “change”; the Gospel teaches that, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can be changed ("repented") from what we are now to what God created us to become; we need to have faith that what we are promised in the Gospel actually can happen in order to change (repent); our whole purpose in life is to change (repent) from our “natural” state to an “exalted” (God-like) state; baptism is the outward expression of our commitment to change (repent); the gift of the Holy Ghost represents God’s promise to help us change (repent); thus, everything for which we ought to aspire in this life is centered and hinges on repentance.

It’s like a mathematical given: Our ultimate goal is to become like our Father and Mother in Heaven; we aren’t like them now; thus, we need to change in order to become like them; thus, everything else fails miserably without changing (repentance).

Just like all the law and the prophets hang on love, and just like faith in Jesus Christ is the foundation of all else, and just like obedience (acceptance of what someone else wants) is better than sacrifice (doing what you want to so, even if it hurts) - our eternal progression hangs on our acceptance of everything else, and that acceptance is expressed through our willingness to try to change (repent) and allow ourselves to be changed (repented). 

As a theological aside, that’s why “easy grace” (confession alone saves) is such an abominable concept, since (at its extreme) it completely denies the prupose of our very existence, guts true repentance and derails the change that repentance enables.