Autobots...Transform! and Roll Out!

Have you ever seen Transformers? Remember the line that Optimus Prime uses to tell his fellow transformers to change and to get a move on it? It goes something like this, in a robotic voice of course, "Autobots, transform. And roll out!" I have often said this phrase to a couple of my companions on my mission, when we were getting ready to leave for the day, or when we needed to get to an appointment or whatnot. I did it mostly just to be funny. But it's kind of amazing just how much you think about relating things to the gospel when you are on a mission. Yes, I'm relating Transformers to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Think about it. What does transform really mean? I'll tell you. I looked up the definition on dictionary.com. One of the definitions says, "to change condition, nature, or character. To convert." See, it doesn't just apply to robots. We can transform. We can change. We can convert. How? By a little thing we like to call repentance. Actually, it's not a little thing. It's a big thing. It's a part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the Bible Dictionary, repentance is defined as, "a turning of the heart and will to God, and a renunciation of sin to which we are naturally inclined. Without this there can be no progress in the things of the soul's salvation, for all accountable persons are stained by sin, and must be cleansed in order to enter the kingdom of heaven."

We cannot be forgiven without repentance. And we cannot repent without the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ took on Himself the sins of the world that through Him we might be saved. But we have to change. We have to exert every effort in experiencing a mighty change of heart. Alma the Younger explained this about his father in The Book of Mormon. "According to his faith there was a mighty change wrought in his heart...he preached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved." (Alma 5:12-13)

artwork by Simon Dewey

It's through repentance that we can change and become more like our Savior. We shouldn't put it off though. We should "roll out" now! Later on in the Book of Mormon, a missionary named Amulek tells us that this life is the time to prepare to meet God, and to not procrastinate the day of your repentance (Alma 34:32-33). We need to be changing continually. Every day. Right now. It's not something we can or should wait for. As we experience that "mighty change" in our own hearts, we can receive forgiveness. In Isaiah, we learn that our sins shall be as white as snow (Isaiah 1:18). I know that we can feel clean and pure again, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, as we repent.

So through my best robotic Optimus Prime voice I can muster (although you can't hear it), I say again, "Autobots, transform. And roll out!" May we all transform, and may we all do it now.

Thanks for reading. Until next time...