In order to be born again, you must completely and constantly prefer the desires of God above your own and completely submit to him in all things and at all times. You can’t enter the kingdom of God until you are born again,1 as you can’t be the subject of a king to whom you do not subject yourself.
You can’t ignore sections of your life or specific areas of improvement and still experience spiritual rebirth. Often, people fool themselves into thinking they have submitted to God by sacrificing more than is appropriate in some aspect of their lives, hoping to compensate for other aspects of their lives where they have not given what God has asked.2 Any limits in what you are willing to do for God, or when you are willing to do it, or how long you are willing to do it, show you that your submission to God is still conditional.
Unconditional submission to God is sometimes referred to in the scriptures as having a “broken heart and contrite spirit.”3 You have a broken heart and contrite spirit when you decide to fully obey God and desire his will exclusively above all other things, adopting the purpose of God as your own. To achieve a broken heart and contrite spirit is to make your life a sacrifice to God through living in the same way Jesus would at all times and in all places.4
You cannot be saved without a broken heart and a contrite spirit.5 Just as you cannot gather grapes from thistles,6 your works cannot be holy787 while your heart is still unholy.788 If you are not fully submitted to God, you will not draw any nearer to him with substitute religious activity.789 The sacrifice of a broken heart and contrite spirit is what makes religious activity effective instead of vain. Without it, all worship is an abomination to God,790 an affront to his purpose, and a mockery of his sacrifice.
Footnotes
- 1. Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.(John 3:5) ↩
- 2. Saul famously committed this error in offering sacrifices after disobeying God’s instructions for battle: “And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel 15:22) ↩
- 3. Verily I say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are honest, and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice—yea, every sacrifice which I, the Lord, shall command—they are accepted of me. (D&C 97:8) ↩
- 4. Beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (Romans 12:1) ↩
- 5. Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth. Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered. (2 Nephi 2:6-7) ↩
- 6. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 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 which is in heaven. (Matthew 7:15-21) ↩