If you’re into self-improvement, you are in the right place! There is no better method for becoming a better person than by living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Does He love us as we are? Of course! Does He want us to become more? Without question. Consider Mosiah 3:19:
“For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.”
The natural man refers to our natural, instinctual impulses. The natural man likes things that appeal to the senses. We are here to overcome, to train our bodies to be submissive to our spirits. The Lord would exalt us by saving our bodies through appealing to our spirits. The adversary operates the other way around.
The program here is to become a saint. We are to become submissive, aligning our wills with the Lord’s will. He was the perfect example of doing this. How many times did he say, “Not my will, but thine be done” (Luke 22:42)
That is the whole reason we are here on this earth. Consider Abraham 3:25, which tells us:
“And we will them herewith, to see if they will all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;”
The literal reason we are on this earth is to see if we will be obedient. There’s one way to become like God, and we’ll find it through obedience.
As a matter of fact, in 3 Nephi 9:19-20, the Lord explicitly tells the people that all of the sacrifices and burnt offerings are done away, and what to offer in its place. These verses read:
“And ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood; yea, your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away, for I will accept none of your sacrifices and your burnt offerings. And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost, even as the Lamanites, because of their faith in me at the time of their conversion, were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not.”
What is the new offering? Our will. Our whole selves. We should train ourselves such that what we want aligns with what the Lord wants. Making his will our will. Can you imagine wanting exactly what the Lord wants? That is the best thing you could possibly attain in this life. What other self-improvement plan could you possibly need?