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 holy7 while your heart is still unholy.8 If you are not fully submitted to God, you will not draw any nearer to him with substitute religious activity.9 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,10 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) ↩
- 7. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. (Isaiah 59:2-3) ↩
- 8. And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. (Mark 7:20-23) ↩
- 9. For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. (Psalm 51:16-17) And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. 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. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. (1 Samuel 15:14-23) ↩
- 10. ...I have regard for those who are of a humble and contrite spirit and who are vigilant for my word. But whoever slaughters an ox is as one who kills a man, and whoever sacrifices a lamb, as one who breaks a dog’s neck; whoever presents a grain offering is as one who offers swine’s blood, and whoever burns incense, as one who venerates idols. Just as they have preferred to go their own ways, their souls delighting in their abominations, so will I prescribe intrigues for them and bring upon them the thing they dread. For when I called, no one responded; when I spoke, none gave heed. They did what was evil in my eyes; they chose to do what was not my will. (Isaiah 66:2-4, Gileadi Translation) ↩