I am writing to those who appreciate the gift of repentance and are thankful that Jesus Christ was willing an able to atone for our sins.
If we think of a testimony of repentance as having three degrees of glory then a telestial repentance might be described as someone wishing to repent but never gets around to it. A terrestrial repentance could be thought of as lukewarm repentance, and celestial repentance would be to repent with real intent.
Whatever degree of repentance we are practicing, from hoping to repent, dabbling with repentance, or repenting with real intent there is something that can get lost in the mix. Alma taught his son Corianton this essential aspect of repentance. He taught,
“…only let your sins trouble you, with that trouble which shall bring you down unto repentance.” Alma 42:29
When I read these words, I think Alma was teaching Corianton to allow the pain that moved him to repent to do that and nothing more. Corianton may have been overwhelmed with regret, shame, and disappointment to the extent that he felt he couldn’t repent. Alma seeing this, counselled him to let his sins trouble him only to the point that he repented. Warning him not to allow his sins to trouble him into thinking repentance was beyond his reach, wrestling with self doubt reasoning that his sins were such that he couldn’t be forgiven by God or man.
No one in this world can sin beyond the redeeming power of Christ atonement, as long as they desire to repent, they can be freed from the chains of hell through the power of the Saviors atonement.
One of Satan’s most effective chains of hell is to allow our sins to trouble us, with that trouble which turns us from repentance. This opens the door to binging in our sins or worse, entertaining thoughts that we are totally worthless.
We are the sons and daughters of God. We can win the battle with sin, all kinds of sin. The Savior is our Advocate. He won’t let us down. He won’t give up on us. When we get these idea firmly planted in our minds and in our hearts we will understand with our minds and feel in our hearts the words of the Savior when he declared :
“Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more.” D&C 58:42