After hearing the gospel message, one penitent seeker asked his teacher:
...What shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken? Yea, what shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my breast, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy, that I may not be cast off at the last day? Behold, said he, I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy. (Alma 22:15)
This man made the same mistake most Christians do today. He thought that somehow God could magically change his desires from evil to good. Thankfully, he was also willing to make a total sacrifice of all things. As a king, he offered his kingdom, all that he had.
His teacher corrected his understanding, indicating that the catalyst of the change was repentance—his choosing to forsake his sins:
16 But Aaron said unto him: If thou desirest this thing, if thou wilt bow down before God, yea, if thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive the hope which thou desirest. (Alma 22:16)
The king humbly bowed down before God and offered to forsake all of his sins.
17 And it came to pass that when Aaron had said these words, the king did bow down before the Lord, upon his knees; yea, even he did prostrate himself upon the earth, and cried mightily, saying:
18 O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day. And now when the king had said these words, he was struck as if he were dead. (Alma 22)
Even giving away his kingdom was no sufficient replacement for giving away his heart.
There are people today who claim they desire to receive the Holy Ghost, but haven’t. What they desire is something different than what they are asking for, and they will never find it until they realize and reconcile to what it really means to be born again.
The desire to be changed is not the same as the desire to change. The Holy Ghost enables you to change through giving you greater information. If you aren’t interested in reconciling to what you already know about what is best, why would you think that you would enjoy knowing more about what is best, or be any more likely to reconcile to it? If you are unwilling to find the value in improvement now, when the invitations and necessary sacrifice are small, why would you be willing to find the value in invitations to greater change, which require much greater sacrifice?
You will not be born again until you freely submit to God in all things. So long as you hold out any part of your desires—as long as you continue in any sin whatsoever—you will not be born again.