Repentance and sins of omission

Feb.8

2 Nephi 14-15

verse 4

     Application: Repent, and allow the Lord to refine you. 

     Principle: The Lord can "wash away... filth" and purge us of sin by the "spirit of burning" Also, see Malachi 3:2

     Doctrine: God wants us to return to Him clean and undefiled. 

• It's not the trial that refines you, it's the repentance at the time of the trial. 
• The people that come out from a trial "stronger" are those that are willing to change in order to adapt to the trial. Those that don't humble themselves, turn to the Lord, and change don't end up any better than at first, in fact they usually are worse off. 
• Repentance often has a negative connotation because in the process of repentance we are openly confronting sin. We hate sin, which is good, and so we connect with repentance the painful and humbling process of confronting, confessing, and overcoming mistakes that we've made in the past. Though this is one part of repentance, we often forget that repentance is our gateway to overcoming sins of omission as well. Sin is anytime we knowingly make a wrong choice. Sins of omission are times that we make a choice to not do what the Lord wants us to do. This happens all the time! However, we often don't recognize it. We suffer the consequences of sin, but unlike with sins of commission, we don't think to repent because we often fail to recognize our sin. However we miss a huge opportunity when we don;t repent of things that we haven;t done. We could be accessing the Atonement in doing things that are new and hard for us. 
• On the same page we must realize that, though both are ways of accessing the Atonement, repentance is necessary when we have filed to do something we knew we should have done, while basic prayer and supplication are necessary when we are in a new situation and don't know how to react.