Life has two purposes.  There are two things that every soul must accomplish.  One is repentance.  The other is covenants.  Both are supreme gifts made possible by the Lord’s Atonement.

In the pre-mortal life we were given a third gift—the gift of agency.  We exercised that gift before we came to earth when we chose which of the two plans we would endorse and follow.  Having chosen to retain our agency, rather than surrender it to the enemy who sought to control us, we opened the way for birth into mortality.  Mortality opened a plethora of choices that each soul would be required to make.  Mortality thus became a great proving ground—a probationary period—where every soul but One would make incorrect choices and commit sin.

Sin casts the errant one out of God’s presence.  Without a means to repent, the errant soul would be forever banished from God.  Jesus, our Savior, worked out the Atonement, and paid for the sins of all who would accept Him as their Redeemer and keep His commandments.  His Atonement is available to all, and is activated by repentance.

Repentance becomes true and full only if followed by the ordinance and covenant of baptism.  The ordinance is performed by immersion in water of the repentant person by one holding proper authority.  The covenant is a promise to always follow Jesus and to keep His commandments.

The gift of repentance is huge.  It’s marvelous.  It’s wonderful.  It’s incomprehensible.  It’s free, and it’s also mandatory.  Without repentance, the Atonement remains closed and inoperative in the life of that individual.  The rewards for repentance are happiness, joy, a clear conscience, and the opening of the way to the making of the covenants that will return us to the presence of the Father.

Repentance is accomplished by forsaking our sins, confessing them to the Lord, asking for His forgiveness, and keeping all of His commandments.

Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the lord, remember them no more.

By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins—behold, he will confess them and forsake them.  (D&C 58:42-43).

The Book of Mormon tells the stories of many anti-Christs.  Sherem, Nehor, Amlici, Korihor, and Amalickiah all had in common a disbelief in the need for repentance.  They believed that whatsoever they did was right, and that if there was a God, He would beat us with a few stripes, and eventually save all men.  Consequently they didn’t seek Him.

Their doctrines have come back to the forefront in our day.  Churches don’t preach repentance any more.  Baptism has become an optional, largely meaningless ordinance detached from the prerequisite repentance.  The other ordinances and covenants have been altogether lost.  These include the conferral of the gift of the Holy Ghost, ordination to the various offices of the Priesthood, the temple endowment, and the sealings of couples and children that make possible the perpetuation of the family unit beyond the grave.

The implications and reach of any one of these ordinances and covenants is so huge as to be unfathomable.  What would life be without forgiveness of our sins, the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, the power of the Priesthood, and the promise of eternal life with those we love?

It all begins with repentance.  Repentance is the key.  Repentance activates the Atonement.  The Atonement applies only to those who repent and are baptized.  (Alma 11:40-41; Alma 12:18; Mosiah 16:5; Moroni 7:38; 2 Nephi 2:7).

“Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth,” Lehi said.  (2 Nephi 2:8).

“Say nothing but repentance unto this generation…” the Lord repeatedly says in Doctrine and Covenants.  (D&C 6:9, 11:9).

He also says repeatedly that, “…the thing which will be of most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me…”  (D&C 15:6).

“Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people.

“And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!”  (D&C 18:14-15).

I brought that one soul unto Christ when I repented of my sins—and how great is my joy!  As a result I have a clear conscience.  My sins are all taken away.  I feel clean.

As a result I have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost.  I recognize and use its guidance every day.

As a result, I have Priesthood authority and power.  I am blessing many, many lives, not the least of which are the lives of my family members.

As a result I have a precious wife, 19 children, and 47 grandchildren that will be mine for eternity.

It’s all because of repentance.

It’s all because of my Savior Who made my repentance possible.

Sometimes the item can have great value.  Some people have made a hobby of collecting coupons, and of seeing how much they can redeem with the least expenditure of real cash.  Some have elevated the hobby to a science, and are able to brag that they’ve gotten hundreds of dollars of goods by redeeming piles of coupons while spending only a few dollars.

I’m not one who is into coupon redemption.  When I read the newspaper, my eyes don’t even see them.  The coupons that come in the mail are thrown into the trash with barely a glance.  There is no doubt but what I’ve thrown away many thousands of dollars of value.  I’ve done it because redeeming a coupon generally involves spending money for something that I wouldn’t have otherwise purchased.

A human soul is like a coupon.  Many people consider themselves of no value.  They throw their lives away.  They sell themselves for naught.  Yet, the Lord says, “Ye shall be redeemed without money.”  (3 Nephi 20:38).

A coupon requires a redeemer.  A coupon requires someone who sees its value.  The Redeemer of all mankind has said, “Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.”  (D&C 18:10).

What is the worth of a soul?

The Jewish Talmud comes closest to describing the value of a human soul.  It says there that “Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world.  And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.”  (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:9, Babylonian Talmud Tractate Sanhedrin 37a).

I’m sure that the writer of that wise saying was unaware that his words are literally so.  In fact, they are an understatement.

The God of us all has said, “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”  (Moses 1:39).

And wherein is the Father glorified in this work?  It is in the saving and the exalting of a single soul:  because that child of God, who achieves exaltation will go on to create and people many worlds, all of which become additions to our Father’s realm.  The soul who fails to reach exaltation will find his progress dammed.  He will be stopped.  He will have no eternal increase.  No worlds will come from him.  He will add nothing to his Father’s glory.

The great plan of redemption was put into place long before the earth was created.  All creation held its collective breath as the Great Redeemer worked out the infinite details of the Atonement, and opened the way for individual repentance, forgiveness, resurrection, and exaltation.

Every soul falls far short of meriting any blessing from God, but the Redeemer of all mankind is ready to stand before the Father, plead the case of every repentant soul, and redeem every man and woman who will believe on Him and keep His commandments.

Jesus sees the worth of every soul, even when that person sees no value in himself.  He is, in fact, able to increase the value of a repentant, obedient, willing soul to an infinite degree.

But that soul must first want to be redeemed.  He must show his desire to be redeemed by repenting of his sins.  Just as soon as he exercises faith enough to ask for forgiveness and redemption, just that soon is the great plan of redemption activated in his behalf.  “Therefore, if ye will repent and harden not your hearts,” Alma says, “immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you.”  (Alma 34:31).

Alma, himself, experienced that immediacy.  He went from “exquisite” and “bitter” pain to “exquisite” and “sweet” joy in an instant.  (Alma 36:18-19).

In the Church we most often refer to God’s plan as the “plan of salvation.”  In the scriptures, I think the plan is more often called the “plan of redemption.”  That is certainly the term most often used by Alma; but in just one chapter of his book, he used four different names for the plan, all of them equally apt and descriptive.  In Alma chapter 42 he uses the term “plan of salvation” once (v. 5), “plan of happiness” twice (vs. 8 and 16), “plan of mercy” three times (vs. 15 and 31), and “plan of redemption” twice (vs. 11 and 13).

How grateful we must be for this marvelous plan—this incredible opportunity.  How grateful we must be for this mortal life—this opportunity that we’re given to repent and to make covenants.  Repenting and making covenants are the two most important things that we can do in this life.  Indeed, they are the purpose of mortality.  Those who fail to take advantage of this opportunity are like coupons that have no redeemer.  They’re destined for the garbage.

Therefore, the wicked remain as though there had been no redemption made, except it be the loosing of the bands of death…  (Alma 11:41).

…Remember that he that persists in his own carnal nature, and goes on in the ways of sin and rebellion against God, remaineth in his fallen state and the devil hath all power over him.  Therefore he is as though there was no redemption made…  (Mosiah 16:5).

I am grateful for the Redeemer.  I am grateful for my Redeemer who saw value in me.  I am grateful for the Great Redeemer who offered me the opportunity to repent of my sins, and who opened His Atonement for my full use.  I am grateful to have been redeemed, and I hope to be able to live up to the expectations that He has for me.