Dallin H. Oaks
"The scriptures contain many commands to avoid evil desires. For example, latter-day revelations identify telestial wickedness not only in he who ‘makes a lie’ but also in he who ‘loves’ a lie (D&C 76:103; 63:17).
"‘Thou shalt not covet’ (Exodus 20:17) is clearly a command addressed to a state of mind rather than to an action. In modern times the Lord reemphasized this principle by commanding the Saints to cease from their ’lustful desires, from all [their] pride and light-mindedness’ (D&C 88:121), and to repent ’of all their covetous desires, before me, … for what is property unto me? saith the Lord’ (D&C 117:4).
"Despite these commands, there are many whose desires are fixed so firmly on the acquisition or use of property, or on other worldly things, that they have no desire for righteousness or the things of God. In the parable of the sower, Jesus indicated that some of the sower‘s seed ’fell by the way side’ (Matthew 13:4). He explained to his disciples that this circumstance represented those who ’heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not’ (Matthew 13:19). The Prophet Joseph Smith attributed this lack of understanding of the gospel to a lack of desire:
’Men who have no principle of righteousness in themselves, and whose hearts are full of iniquity, and have no desire for the principles of truth, do not understand the word of truth when they hear it. The devil taketh away the word of truth out of their hearts, because there is no desire for righteousness in them.’ (History of the Church 2:266)
“The seeds representing the word of God will always fall ‘by the way side’ for those who give their priority attention to traffic on the highway of worldly things. If there is no desire for the principles of truth, the seed that represents the word of God can never bear fruit.” (Pure in Heart, pp. 54-5)
M. Russell Ballard
"If you have a bad habit, do you think death is going to change it? Do you think that habit will simply dissolve in some miraculous way and will no longer be with you? I believe that the Lord impresses upon you and me the need to repent and live the law, keep the commandments, and keep our lives aligned to the celestial goal; because it is when we are here in mortality that the body and the spirit can learn together.
“For example, when a man who smokes dies and his body is placed six feet into the ground, is there any reason for us to believe that when his body comes back up out of the ground it will no longer have the desires that it had when it was laid down? I do not think so. I think that the body will rise in the resurrection with the same desires and that the body and the spirit together must work out this matter of eternal salvation. (B.Y.U. Speeches of the Year, 1979, pp. 157-8.)” (Dallin H. Oaks, Pure in Heart, pp. 54-5)