So we just celebrated Independence Day (one of my personal favorites...), and I want to expound a little on the Eternal perspective relating to this special holiday.
When I was thinking about our independence as individuals, I thought about the deeper meaning; which is our personal agency as children of God.
Agency: "The ability and privilege God gives us to choose and to act for ourselves. Agency is essential in the plan of salvation. Without agency, we would not be able to learn or progress or follow the Savior. With it, we 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” (2 Nephi 2:27)."
We had the power to choose before we were born! We all lived together as Spirit Children of our Heavenly Father. There was a Premortal counsel in Heaven where Heavenly Father presented to us His plan of Salvation, or the Plan of HAPPINESS. Included in this perfect plan was the role of a Savior, who would come to suffer and die for our sins and afflictions. Jesus Christ volunteered to do that for us and give all the glory to The Father. This allowed us to have the gift of agency, as well as the infinite gift of the Atonement, all so that we could know joy and return back to live with God again. They did this because they love us.
"Love is the grand motive of the Plan of Salvation."
We chose Christ to be our Savior and chose to come to Earth to receive a body and be tested.
Lucifer, or Satan, rebelled and “sought to destroy the agency of man”. He and those who chose to follow him were denied to come to Earth and receive a body. So out of misery, they tempt us and try to separate us from our Heavenly Father and the promised blessings He has for each one of us.
To me it is SO amazing how everyone who is here on the Earth chose Christ to be their Savior. That is one of my favorite things about the Gospel, and being a missionary. We have ALREADY chosen Christ because we are HERE.
Now, as we go through our mortal lives, with the gift of agency, we still have to learn to make the same choice we did as before. With our own free will, we can:
To choose LIFE (Jesus Christ) or choose DEATH (the Devil)
When I was thinking about our independence as individuals, I thought about the deeper meaning; which is our personal agency as children of God.
Agency: "The ability and privilege God gives us to choose and to act for ourselves. Agency is essential in the plan of salvation. Without agency, we would not be able to learn or progress or follow the Savior. With it, we 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” (2 Nephi 2:27)."
We had the power to choose before we were born! We all lived together as Spirit Children of our Heavenly Father. There was a Premortal counsel in Heaven where Heavenly Father presented to us His plan of Salvation, or the Plan of HAPPINESS. Included in this perfect plan was the role of a Savior, who would come to suffer and die for our sins and afflictions. Jesus Christ volunteered to do that for us and give all the glory to The Father. This allowed us to have the gift of agency, as well as the infinite gift of the Atonement, all so that we could know joy and return back to live with God again. They did this because they love us.
"Love is the grand motive of the Plan of Salvation."
We chose Christ to be our Savior and chose to come to Earth to receive a body and be tested.
Lucifer, or Satan, rebelled and “sought to destroy the agency of man”. He and those who chose to follow him were denied to come to Earth and receive a body. So out of misery, they tempt us and try to separate us from our Heavenly Father and the promised blessings He has for each one of us.
To me it is SO amazing how everyone who is here on the Earth chose Christ to be their Savior. That is one of my favorite things about the Gospel, and being a missionary. We have ALREADY chosen Christ because we are HERE.
Now, as we go through our mortal lives, with the gift of agency, we still have to learn to make the same choice we did as before. With our own free will, we can:
To choose LIFE (Jesus Christ) or choose DEATH (the Devil)
16 In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, toa walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his b judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and theLord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
18 I a denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and a cursing: thereforeb choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
20 That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest a obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy b life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. -Deuteronomy 30:15-20
I hope we will all use the gift of agency that our Father in Heaven has given us WELL. We were born to reach Eternal Happiness. I know He loves us and knows us personally. The Savior offers us forgiveness, peace, joy, and light as we choose to follow Him.
30 And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto ahimself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are bfree; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you acknowledge and he hath made you free.
31 He hath given unto you that ye might aknow good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might bchoose life or death; and ye can do good and be crestored unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored unto you. -Helaman 14:30-31
No comments:
Post a Comment