Here is a somewhat lengthy passage from an excellent talk
that President George Q. Cannon gave on what it means to offer a broken heart
and a contrite spirit:
The Lord requires all his people in these days to bring unto him a
sacrifice. In olden times, before the coming of the Lord Jesus, we read in
the Bible that the people brought their offerings of oxen, of sheep, of fowls
of various kinds. These were burnt offerings, [Gen. 8:20] they were sacrifices,
the blood of animals flowed, [Ex. 20:24] and the sins of the people apparently
were remitted by their obedience to these requirements. [Num.18:9] But the Lord
has said respecting us, that the
offering he requires at our hands is a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
Let me ask you—and in asking you—I ask myself—do you, when you go unto the
Lord, bring this offering, or do you go to God without asking him in this
spirit and in this manner? If you go to
the Lord with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, he will show [3 Ne. 9:20]
[Ps. 51:17][D&C 59:8][2 Ne. 2:7] to you all your faults, and all
your weaknesses, he will bring plainly before you wherein you have come short
in doing his will, and when you see yourself in the light of that spirit
instead of being filled with pride, you will feel to abase yourselves and bring
yourselves down in the very dust of humility; your own unworthiness will be so
plain before you, that if pride should come into your heart at any time, you
will almost be shocked at it, and you will feel to put it away from you. It
is in this way that we as Latter-day Saints should live. There is enough taught to us in
the Bible, in the Book of Mormon, in the Doctrine and Covenants, and by our
leaders from time to time, to guide us into the presence of God Our Heavenly
Father. We should be the most
humble people on the face of the earth. Why? Because God in communicating to us
the knowledge of our weakness and faults, will give us humility. We should
be the most thankful people upon the earth. Why? Because owing to the abundance
of God's goodness and mercy to us, and realizing it as we should do, it will
fill us with a thankfulness that words could not express; our hearts would
overflow with extreme gratitude to the Lord our God for the blessings that we
enjoy. Under these circumstances should there be any murmuring? Not any. Should
we find fault with our condition and our circumstances? Certainly not, if we
are living the religion which God has revealed to us. Should there be any
quarrelling or faultfinding? No; because where the Spirit of God exists there
is no disposition of this character. There
is a manifestation to suffer wrong rather than to do wrong; not to revile, not
to prosecute, not to assail back when we are assailed. If a brother comes
up to me, he is in a bad temper, he says something that is annoying, and I lose
my temper and reply in the same spirit, do I do right? Certainly not. However much the provocation may be, it is
not my duty as a Latter-day Saint, as a professed follower of Jesus Christ, to
indulge in any such feeling or expression. Well, but one may ask, have we to
submit to abuse? Yes, that is one of the requirements of the Gospel, that you
shall submit to abuse. Have we to submit to wrong? Yes, if somebody attempts to
wrong you, it is your duty as professed followers of Jesus Christ to submit to
that. Supposing I am struck, must I
submit to a blow? Yes, I must, or else I am not carrying out the principles of
my religion. Well, but suppose a person tells falsehoods concerning me, assails
me and reviles me, must I submit to this? Yes. Why? Because the requirements of
the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ are that we should do so, that we should
not quarrel, that we should suffer evil and wrong and pray for the person who
does these things to us. This is a [Matt. 5:44] hard lesson I know. Some
men would think their children cowards unless they would fight when they were
struck. They teach their children to strike back when struck, to resent attacks
upon them. Then, again, if one man calls another a liar, the first thing we
know the man is knocked down, and as a result of training he would be
considered unmanly if he did not resent the insult in this way. I am very glad,
however, that a change has taken place in this respect. There must be changes
of this kind among us. If a man forgets himself so far as to call his brother a
liar, or any other offensive name, there should be enough of the Spirit of God
and the spirit of patience and the spirit of self-respect left in the brother
to bear the insult without resenting in the same spirit. Would this make us
pusillanimous? Would this make us a people devoid of spirit? Certainly not;
there is plenty of room for the exercising of all the spirit we have in coping
with the difficulties we have in life without exercising it in that manner,
without expending it in senseless quarrels. If we have this spirit to which I have alluded, this meek, humble,
broken and contrite spirit, will it not produce union? Yes, it will, it will
produce union and love, and I wish to say to all who are here tonight, that it
is the duty of every man and woman in this Church to live at peace with him and
herself, and then to live at peace with everybody else, husbands with wives,
wives with husbands, parents with children, children with parents, brothers
with sisters and sisters with brothers; this is the duty that God requires at
our hands. I am speaking now of something which is not an abstract theory, that
cannot be carried out; I am speaking of that which can be carried out, which
everyone of us can carry out, and of results which can be accomplished in the
midst of this people. (JD 22:98-109)
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