Friday, June 7, 2013

Agency



Agency is such a big topic in the world today.  It seems like every day I turn on the computer, watch TV, or pick up a paper I am confronted with someone's bad choice, or a debate on if they should have a choice.  Agency though is not debatable in the church.  It is a gift from God.  Outside the church our commandments are viewed as restrictions.  As a daughter of God I know that I follow those commandments because I am choosing to.  I make right decisions because I want the promised blessings.  I must be careful when using my agency though because I cannot choose the consequence, good or bad.  With my agency I must choose worthy goals that will help me return to God.  Each and every day I must then make small choices that help me to achieve that bigger goal.

1. "Don't rationalize away future happiness by taking shortcuts instead of applying sound gospel principles."
Scott, Richard G. "For Peace at Home." Ensign May 2013: 29.

2. "Stay on the Lord's side and you will win every time."
Scott, Richard G. "For Peace at Home." Ensign May 2013: 29.

3. "In our premortal state we chose to follow the Savior Jesus Christ! And because we did, we were allowed to come to earth. I testify that by making the same choice to follow the Savior now, while we are here on earth, we will obtain an even greater blessing in the eternities. But let it be known: we must continue to choose to follow the Savior. Eternity is at stake, and our wise use of agency and our actions are essential that we might have eternal life."
Hales, Robert D. "Agency: Essential to the Plan of Life." Ensign Nov. 2010: 24

4. "Contrary to the world’s secular teaching, the scriptures teach us that we do have agency, and our righteous exercise of agency always makes a difference in the opportunities we have and our ability to act upon them and progress eternally."
Hales, Robert D. "Agency: Essential to the Plan of Life." Ensign Nov. 2010: 24

5. "Latter-day Saints are not obedient because they are compelled to be obedient. They are obedient because they know certain spiritual truths and have decided, as an expression of their own individual agency, to obey the commandments of God."
Packer, Boyd K. "Agency and Control." General Conference 1983

6. “When you choose to follow Christ, you choose to be changed. . . . The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature . . . , and changed men [and women] can change the world.” (quoting President Ezra Taft Benson)
Monson, Thomas S. "Be a Light to the World" BYU Devotional November 2011

7. "Day by day that we work out our plans for the future; it is day by day that we achieve our goals. It is one day at a time that we raise and nurture our families. It is one day at a time that we overcome imperfections. We endure in faith to the end one day at a time. It is the accumulation of many days well lived that adds up to a full life and a saintly person."
Christofferson, D. Todd. "Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread." General Conference April 2013

8. “Men and women receive their agency as a gift from God, but their liberty and, in turn, their eternal happiness come from obedience to His laws.”
Perry, L. Tom. "Obedience to Law is Liberty." General Conference April 2013

9.“We are free to choose what we will and to pick and choose our acts, but we are not free to choose the consequences. They come as they will come. Agency is defined in the scriptures as “moral agency,” which means that we can choose between good and evil. The adversary seeks to tempt us to misuse our moral agency.” President Boyd K. Packard, April 2013 General Conference, Saturday Morning Session

Packer, Boyd K. "These Things I Know." General Conference April 2013
10. “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.”
Hales, Robert D. "To Act for Ourselves: The Gift and Blessings of Agency." General Conference April 2006









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