Agency- The Freedom to Choose

One thing I love about God's plan for us is that he gives us agency. Agency can be simply defined as the freedom to choose for ourselves. God will never force us to make a decision or do something. We choose our actions (but not the consequences).

God could have created a different plan where we would be forced to choose good all the time. There could have been no suffering, sin, or evil. But how would we learn? How would we grow? Without sickness, could we really understand and appreciate health? There must be opposition so that our mortal experience is full of learning and growth.

Ultimately we are choosing daily to follow God or to follow Satan by the actions we make. When we help someone in need, we are obviously following God. When we say unkind words, we are following Satan. The sum of our smaller actions determines the path that we are on.

Lehi, in the Book of Mormon, taught:

"Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and call things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself."
2 Nephi 2:27

This teaching clearly explains the consequences of choosing to follow God's plan (through Jesus Christ, the great Mediator) versus that of devil. The choice really is up to us. Living righteously is not the "popular" thing in today's world, which makes it tough. But it is the only way to obtain liberty and eternal life. All other paths, no matter how glamorous they appear, lead to captivity and death (spiritual death).

CTR: Choose the Right!