Repentance, beautifully Explained

  In the New Testament, repentance comes from the word metanoeó, from the words metá and noeó, meaning “to change one’s mind or purpose.”19 Isn’t that interesting?

Every time we turn more to Christ, we are repenting—we are following Him.20 When we sincerely pray to the Father, in a very real sense we are repenting. When we read the scriptures and ponder them, we are repenting. As we make changes because of what we are learning about Christ and His gospel, we are repenting. When we do things that make us better, kinder, gentler, more sensitive, more spiritual, more virtuous, and truer, we are repenting. Whenever we choose the better path, we are repenting. Though we all repent of things that are sinful in our lives, most of our repenting comes from hearing His words and doing them—from turning to Him. This builds our foundation, and we want that foundation to be as big and as wide and as deep and as sturdy as possible.

Weatherford T. Clayton of The Seventy

BYU Devotional Address, March 14, 2017