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| Source Agency allows us to be tested and tried to see whether or not we will endure to the end and return to our Heavenly Father with honor. Agency is the catalyst that leads us to express our inward spiritual desires in outward Christlike behavior. Agency permits us to make faithful, obedient choices that strengthen us so that we can lift and strengthen others. Agency used righteously allows light to dispel the darkness and enables us to live with joy and happiness in the present, look with faith to the future, even into the eternities, and not dwell on the things of the past. Our use of agency determines who we are and what we will be. |
I am grateful for the testimony of our prophet,
President Gordon B. Hinckley. On behalf of all members throughout the world, I
express gratitude that he chose to follow the inspiration of the Lord and asked
us to read the Book of Mormon. We have been abundantly blessed by his inspired
counsel.
Father Lehi, the first prophet recorded in the
Book of Mormon, also chose to follow the Lord. He was instructed to “take his
family and depart into the wilderness.”1 Despite harsh traveling conditions and
the murmuring of his sons Laman and Lemuel, Lehi led his family to a land of
promise. But it was not a place of peace. As Laman and Lemuel used their agency
to disobey the Lord, Lehi’s “heart [was] weighed down with sorrow [for them].”2
Before his death, Lehi gathered his children around him, blessed them, and
counseled them.3 To his rebellious sons he urged repentance and faithfulness:
“Awake, my sons. … Shake off the chains with which ye are bound.”4 And to his
righteous son Jacob he taught one final, very important lesson.
If we could leave one lesson of greatest
importance for our children and grandchildren, what would it be? Of all the
glorious principles of the gospel, Lehi chose to teach his son about the plan
of salvation—and the gift of agency.
He taught that “men are instructed sufficiently
that they know good from evil.”5 This sacred instruction began in the heavens.
There, in a Grand Council, our Heavenly Father would continue the gift of
agency to prove us here in mortality, “to see if [we] will do all things
whatsoever the Lord [our] God shall command.”6
But Satan opposed God and His plan, saying: “I
will redeem all mankind, … wherefore give me thine honor.”7 “Wherefore, because
… Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I,
the Lord God, had given him, … I caused that he should be cast down.”8 “And, at
that day, many followed after him.”9 Indeed, “a third part of the hosts of
heaven”10 used their agency to reject God’s plan.
You and I were among those who used their
agency to accept Heavenly Father’s plan to come to earth, to have a mortal
life, to progress. “We shouted for joy … to have the opportunity of coming to
the earth to receive bodies [for we knew] that we might become, through
faithfulness, like unto our Father, God.”11
Now we are here on earth, where opportunities
to use our agency abound; for here “there is an opposition in all things.”12
This opposition is essential to the purpose of our lives. As Lehi explained,
“To bring about his eternal purposes in the end of man, … the Lord God gave
unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for
himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other.”13
Adam and Eve were the first of God’s children
to experience these enticements. Having sought the misery of all mankind,
Satan, “the father of all lies,”14 tempted Adam and Eve. Because they chose to
partake of the “forbidden fruit they were driven out of the garden of Eden, to
till the earth.”15 Because of that choice, they also “brought forth children; …
even the family of all the earth,”16 and this earthly state “became a state of
probation”17 for them and for their posterity. For “behold, all things have
been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things,” Lehi told Jacob. “Adam
fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.”18
Sometimes we forget that our Heavenly Father
desires that each of us have this joy. Only by yielding to temptation and sin
can we be kept from that joy. And yielding is exactly what Satan wants us to
do.
I once had an opportunity to accompany
President Spencer W. Kimball to a distant land. We were given a tour of the
various sites in the area, including underground catacombs—burial grounds for
people who had been persecuted by Christian zealots. As we came up the dark,
narrow stairs of that place, President Kimball taught me an unforgettable
lesson. He pulled my coattail and said, “It has always troubled me what the
adversary does using the name of our Savior.” He then said, “Robert, the
adversary can never have joy unless you and I sin.”
As I contemplated this comment and studied the
scriptures, I began to understand what President Kimball may have meant. I
recalled the word of the Lord to all the inhabitants of the earth as recorded
in the Book of Mormon: “Wo, wo, wo unto this people; wo unto the inhabitants of
the whole earth except they shall repent; for the devil laugheth, and his
angels rejoice, because of the slain of the fair sons and daughters of my
people.”19 It is our sins that make the devil laugh, our sorrow that brings him
counterfeit joy.
Although the devil laughs, his power is
limited. Some may remember the old adage: “The devil made me do it.” Today I
want to convey, in absolutely certain terms, that the adversary cannot make us
do anything. He does lie at our door, as the scriptures say, and he follows us
each day.20 Every time we go out, every decision we make, we are either
choosing to move in his direction or in the direction of our Savior. But the
adversary must depart if we tell him to depart. He cannot influence us unless
we allow him to do so, and he knows that! The only time he can affect our minds
and bodies—our very spirits—is when we allow him to do so. In other words, we
do not have to succumb to his enticements!
We have been given agency, we have been given
the blessings of the priesthood, and we have been given the Light of Christ and
the Holy Ghost for a reason. That reason is our growth and happiness in this
world and eternal life in the world to come. Today I ask, have we received that
Spirit? Are we following on the strait and narrow path that leads to God and
eternal life? Are we holding onto the iron rod, or are we going another way? I
testify that how we choose to feel and think and act every day is the way we get
on the path, and stay on it, until we reach our eternal destination.
Now, none of us are on the narrow path all of
the time. All of us make mistakes. That is why Lehi, who understood the
Savior’s role in preserving and reclaiming our agency, taught Jacob—and us:
“The Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of
men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have
become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to
be acted upon.”21 That is the key—“to act for themselves and not to be acted
upon.”
In these latter days, as in the times of old,
we must avoid being acted upon by acting for ourselves to avoid evil. The Holy
Ghost will prompt us. Joseph was told to flee from Potiphar’s wife. Abraham
obeyed the commandment to flee out of the land of Ur. Lehi was instructed to
flee Jerusalem before it was destroyed. And to protect the Savior’s life, Mary
and Joseph were prompted to flee into Egypt.
The promptings that come to us to flee evil
reflect our Heavenly Father’s understanding of our particular strengths and
weaknesses and His awareness of the unforeseen circumstances of our lives. When
these promptings come, they will not generally stop us in our tracks, for the
Spirit of God does not speak with a voice of thunder. The voice will be as soft
as a whisper, coming as a thought to our minds or a feeling in our hearts. By
heeding its gentle promptings, we will be protected from the destructive
consequences of sin.
But if we ignore those promptings, the light of
the Spirit will fade. Our agency will be limited or lost, and we will lose the
confidence and ability to act. We will be “walking in [spiritual] darkness at
noon-day.”22 Then how easy it is to wander into strange paths and become lost!
How quickly we are bound in the chains of sin spoken of by Lehi to his
rebellious sons.23 For example, if we make choices that put us deeply in debt,
we will lose our agency to meet our wants and needs or to save for that
inevitable rainy day. If we choose to break the law, we may be put in prison,
where our agency is so limited that we cannot choose where we go, who we see,
or what we do. Spirit prison is very much like that. Therefore, to retain our
agency we must daily walk in the light of our Lord and Savior and follow the
path of obedience. It is the only path that leads to our Father in Heaven.
If, through our unrighteous choices, we have
lost our footing on that path, we must remember the agency we were given,
agency we may choose to exercise again. I speak especially to those overcome by
the thick darkness of addiction. If you have fallen into destructive, addictive
behaviors, you may feel that you are spiritually in a black hole. As with the
real black holes in space, it may seem all but impossible for light to
penetrate to where you are. How do you escape? I testify the only way is
through the very agency you exercised so valiantly in your premortal life, the
agency that the adversary cannot take away without your yielding it to him.
How do you reclaim that agency? How do you
begin again to exercise it in the right way? You choose to act in faith and
obedience. May I suggest a few basic choices that you can begin to make
now—this very day.
Choose to accept—truly accept—that you are a
child of God, that He loves you, and that He has the power to help you.
Choose to put everything—literally
everything—on the altar before Him. Believing that you are His child, decide
that your life belongs to Him and that you will use your agency to do His will.
You may do this multiple times in your life, but never, never give up.
Choose to put yourself in a position to have
experiences with the Spirit of God through prayer, in scripture study, at
Church meetings, in your home, and through wholesome interactions with others.
When you feel the influence of the Spirit, you are beginning to be cleansed and
strengthened. The light is being turned on, and where that light shines, the
darkness of evil cannot remain.
Choose to obey and keep your covenants,
beginning with your baptismal covenant. Renew these covenants weekly by
worthily partaking of the sacrament.
Choose to prepare to worthily attend the
temple, make and renew sacred covenants, and receive all of the saving
ordinances and blessings of the gospel.
Finally, and most importantly, choose to
believe in the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Accept the Savior’s forgiveness, and
then forgive yourself. Because of His sacrifice for you, He has the power to
“remember [your sins] no more.”24 You must do likewise.
After you are on the path and are “free to
choose” again, choose to reject feelings of shame for sins you have already
repented of, refuse to be discouraged about the past, and rejoice in hope for
the future. Remember, it is Satan who desires that we be “miserable like unto
himself.”25 Let your desires be stronger than his. Be happy and confident about
your life and about the opportunities and blessings that await you here and
throughout eternity.
Finally, remember our agency is not only for
us. We have the responsibility to use it in behalf of others, to lift and
strengthen others in their trials and tribulations. Some of our brothers and
sisters have lost the full use of their agency through unrighteous choices.
Without exposing ourselves to temptation, we can and should invite others to
receive the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Through friendship and love,
we may lead them along the path of obedience and encourage them to use their
agency to make the right choices once again.
As Father Lehi testified to his family of the
blessings of agency, I also desire to testify to you, my beloved brothers and
sisters throughout the world and to my family. Agency was manifested in the
Council in Heaven as we chose to follow our Heavenly Father’s plan and come to
mortality for this probationary period. Agency allows us to be tested and tried
to see whether or not we will endure to the end and return to our Heavenly
Father with honor. Agency is the catalyst that leads us to express our inward
spiritual desires in outward Christlike behavior. Agency permits us to make
faithful, obedient choices that strengthen us so that we can lift and
strengthen others. Agency used righteously allows light to dispel the darkness
and enables us to live with joy and happiness in the present, look with faith
to the future, even into the eternities, and not dwell on the things of the
past. Our use of agency determines who we are and what we will be.
To all who desire to enjoy the supernal
blessings of agency, I testify that agency is strengthened by our faith and
obedience. Agency leads us to act: to seek that we may find, to ask that we may
receive guidance from the Spirit, to knock on that door that leads to spiritual
light and ultimately salvation. I bear special witness that our Savior Jesus
Christ is the source of that light, even the Light and Life of the World. As we
use our agency to follow Him, His light will grow within us brighter and
brighter until that perfect day26 when we are welcomed into the presence of our
Father in Heaven for all eternity. That we will use our agency to that sacred
and glorious end, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
References:
1. 1 Ne.
2:2.
2. 2 Ne. 1:17.
3. See 2
Ne. 1:14.
4. 2 Ne. 1:23.
5. 2 Ne. 2:5.
6. See
Abr. 3:24–25.
7. Moses 4:1.
8. Moses 4:3.
9. Abr. 3:28.
10. D&C 29:36.
11.
Joseph Fielding Smith, Man, His Origin and Destiny (1965), 277.
12. 2 Ne. 2:11.
13. 2 Ne. 2:15–16.
14. 2 Ne. 2:18.
15. 2 Ne. 2:19.
16. 2 Ne. 2:20.
17. 2 Ne. 2:21.
18. 2 Ne. 2:24–25.
19. 3 Ne. 9:2.
20. See
Gen. 4:7; Moses 5:23.
21. 2 Ne. 2:26.
22.
D&C 95:6.
23. See
2 Ne. 1:13.
24. D&C 58:42.
25. 2 Ne. 2:27.
26. See
D&C 50:24.
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