"Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin, which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction, yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the waters of baptism."
Alma 7:15
Earlier in this chapter, Alma tells the people that of all the things that will happen in the future, the most important one is that the Redeemer will live and come among his people. And that's pretty much the most important thing for us too. He came, and will come again. Meeting God in person can seem like a scary thing, but Alma tells us to fear not. :) Just get ready. :) Of course, that can seem daunting as well, because sins do easily beset us, and sometimes we feel bound down to destruction... we've bound ourselves there, through choices that we've made. But if we show God that we're willing to repent, and willing to recommit to him, then he'll free us from the chains that we've forged for ourselves, and allow us to start again, from wherever we are. Baptism is essential to this process, because it is the covenant that we make with God that we are willing to do as he asks... and it is a figurative *and* literal washing away of our sins so that we can start as new people, living a new and better way. If we've been baptized already, than the renewal of that covenant comes for us every Sunday when we take the sacrament... but either way, that agreement with God is something that we have to keep working at. Today, whether we're working on a covenant with God for the first time or renewing one we've been trying to live up to for a while, let's thank God for the chance we have to start again, and repent sincerely as we work at being good and always getting better.
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