"Though He 'was in all points tempted like as we are' (Hebrews 4:15), with every choice and every action He exercised the agency to be our Savior—to break the chains of sin and death for us. And by His perfect life, He taught us that when we choose to do the will of our Heavenly Father, our agency is preserved, our opportunities increase, and we progress.
"Evidence of this truth is found throughout the scriptures. Job lost everything he had yet chose to remain faithful, and he gained the eternal blessings of God. Mary and Joseph chose to follow the warning of an angel to flee into Egypt, and the life of the Savior was preserved. Joseph Smith chose to follow the instructions of Moroni, and the Restoration unfolded as prophesied.Whenever we choose to come unto Christ, take His name upon us, and follow His servants, we progress along the path to eternal life.
"In our mortal journey, it is helpful to remember that the opposite is also true: when we don’t keep the commandments or follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost, our opportunities are reduced; our abilities to act and progress are diminished. When Cain took his brother’s life because he loved Satan more than God, his spiritual progress was stopped."
- Robert D. Hales, "Agency: Essential to the Plan of Life," General Conference October 2010
Click here to read or listen to the full talk
In this excerpt, Elder Hales discussed one of the grand, eternal principles related to agency. As we choose to exercise our agency in beneficial ways, following God's will for us, we preserve that agency and grow in opportunities and in our personal progress. However, if we exercise our agency in a negative way, choosing to disobey commandments or ignore spiritual promptings, we gradually lose the ability to choose and to progress.
Learning to use our agency wisely is truly one of the crucial lessons of mortality.
(Compilation and commentary by David Kenison, Orem, Utah, 2018)
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