As members of the Church, we are often like the rich man, keeping almost all of the commandments but not able to consecrate ourselves in full measure. Elder Maxwell refers to these members as “the almost valiant.” In effect, we are not really ready to say, I will give away all my sins to know thee. Rather, we keep a few closet sins. Though hidden away, they become our most carefully guarded possessions. It is because of this sinful stubbornness that we do not get the privilege of knowing the Savior.
Ezra Taft Benson
“Each of us must surrender our sins if we are to really know Christ. We do not know Him until we become like Him. There are some, like this king, who must pray until they, too, have ‘a wicked spirit rooted’ from them so they can find the same joy.” (Come Unto Christ, p. 51)
Neal A. Maxwell
"[speaking of the process of coming to know God] We also come to have sufficient ’faith unto repentance,‘ thereby becoming willing ’to give away all [our] sins to know [God]’ (Alma 34:15; 22:18). These may include activities and endeavors that distract and deflect us. Getting used to giving away such onerous things is a necessary first step to prepare us for the giving that constitutes eventual consecration.
"…Among some Church members there is, sad to say, a lack of real faith in the living God and in His plan of salvation. This includes the universal need for repentance and remodeling; failure to pay a full tithing; failure to wear the holy temple garments; refusal to work meekly at making a marriage more successful or helping a family to become happier; inordinate resentment of personal trials; trying to serve the Lord without offending the devil or the world; being willing to serve the Lord but only in an advisory capacity; failing to sustain the Brethren; neglecting prayer; neglecting holy scriptures; neglecting parents; neglecting neighbors; neglecting sacrament meetings; neglecting temple attendance; and so on. Of such happiness-draining failures the common cause, at the testing point, is the failure to endure it well. When we stop short, we interrupt the precious process of personal development.
"…Many of us are kept from eventual consecration because we mistakenly think that, somehow, by letting our will be swallowed up in the will of God we lose our individuality (see Mosiah 15:7). What we are really worried about, of course, is giving up not self but selfish things-like our roles, our time, our preeminence, and our possessions. No wonder we are instructed by the Savior to lose ourselves (see Luke 9:24). He is only asking us to lose the old self in order to find the new self. It is a question not of one‘s losing identity but of finding one’s true identity.
"…The submission of one‘s will is placing on God’s altar the only uniquely personal thing one has to place there. The many other things we ‘give’ are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when we finally submit ourselves by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, we will really be giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give. Consecration thus constitutes the only unconditional surrender which is also a total victory. (If Thou Endure It Well, pp. 44-55)
Neal A. Maxwell
“The almost valiant resemble the valiant, except that they show considerably less consecration and measurably more murmuring. They are less settled spiritually and are more distracted by the world. They progress, but do so episodically rather than steadily and pause on plateaus.” (Men & Women of Christ, p. 3)