Alma has taught us that we are restored according to our works through the grace of God. It is the law of the harvest: we reap as we sow. In mortality, this law is in effect. When we are righteous, we are happy. When we sin, we are unhappy. Oh, we may try to gloss over our sins and attempt to have happiness, but it fades as a moment of mortal pleasure—pleasure based on the wants of the flesh. In my own life I can testify without question that the happiest moments in life are when I know I am doing what the Lord wants me to do. Conversely, the unhappiest moments are when I wanted my will instead of the Lord’s will. We must be clean and pure in order to be restored to the presence of our Heavenly Father. President Joseph Fielding Smith recalls the following story from his youth:
When I was a small boy, too young to hold the Aaronic Priesthood, my father placed a copy of the Book of Mormon in my hands with the request that I read it. I received this Nephite record with thanksgiving and applied myself to the task which had been assigned to me. There are certain passages that have been stamped upon my mind, and I have never forgotten them. One of these is in the twenty-seventh chapter of third Nephi, verses 19 and 20. It is the word of our Redeemer to the Nephites as he taught them after his resurrection. It is as follows:
“And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end.
“Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day.”
The other passage is in the tenth verse of chapter 41 in the book of Alma and is as follows:
“Do not suppose, because it has been spoken concerning restoration, that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness. Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness.”
These two passages I have tried to follow all the days of my life, and I have felt to thank the Lord for this counsel and guidance, and I have endeavored to stamp these sayings on the minds of many others. What a wonderful guide these teachings can be to us if we can get them firmly fixed in our minds! (CR, October 1964, 6)
The law of the restoration is truly the law of the harvest. We reap what we sow—either to eternal happiness or eternal misery. We can be grateful to our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ that a way is prepared for us to repent and receive the light of truth in our lives—light that will illuminate our pathway with lasting joy transcending the boundaries of mortality and carrying us into the realm of heavenly glory. (Ed J. Pinegar)