Jacob 6

Jacob 6:5

Wherefore, my beloved brethren I beseech of you in words of soberness that ye would repent, and come with full purpose of heart, and cleave unto God as he cleaveth unto you. And while his arm of mercy is extended towards you in the light of day, harden not your hearts.

Jacob 6:8

Behold, will ye reject these words? Will ye reject the words of the prophets; and will ye reject all the words which have been spoken concerning Christ, after so many have spoken concerning him; and deny the good word of Christ and the power of God, and the gift of the gift of the Holy Ghost, and quench the Holy Spirit, and make a mock of the great plan of redemption, which hath been laid for you.

This is essentially the invitation that all prophets give, to repent and come unto Christ and partake of his mercy. This is the basic task we have to complete in or life. To sincerely turn all of our desires to God (come to him with full purpose of heart) and to become like Christ through repentance and the mercy of his atonement.

There are likely many ways that we can harden our hearts and reject the words of the prophets and the power of God, and quench the spirit. But I think two of the most common are believing that we do not need to change and believing that we can't change. Many people who are active members of the church harden their hearts in both these ways. They may think that because they are a temple recommend holder they have no need to repent, or they may not believe that they can change, they may think that some of their habits or behaviors are to hard to overcome, or even that nobody can be perfect so they can't get any better. The prophets and the spirit claim that all things can be overcome through Christ and that we can repent and become like him, so will we reject those words? I believe that people can change, that we are free through the atonement to choose who we will be, and that we can all choose to be like Christ.