The “Day of This Life” Is the Time to Repent, and We Must Not Procrastinate
Alma 34:31–33
31 Yea, I would that ye would come forth and harden not your hearts any longer; for behold, now is the time and the day of your salvation; and therefore, if ye will repent and harden not your hearts, immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you.
32 For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.
33 And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote:
“Whenever the gospel is offered to any person or group, they then have the obligation to believe and obey its doctrines; otherwise, they do not become inheritors of its blessings. The doctrine of salvation for the dead, great and glorious as it is, does not mean that those who reject the truth, or who disobey their gospel covenants in this life, shall have a second chance to gain salvation by accepting and living the law in the spirit world. Salvation for the dead is for those who die without a knowledge of the gospel and who would have received it, with all their hearts, had it been presented to them in this mortal life.”
(Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [1965–73], 2:423.)
