It's Your Choice

After receiving a heartfelt e-mail from one of my good friends, I have been studying the gospel principle of agency.

I'm at a point where I'm not sinning in ignorance. I'm fully aware of how I should be living my life. With this vast understanding of right and wrong, all that seems to be left is matter of choice.

My mom had this magnet with this quote on our fridge:

Sow  a thought, reap an act; sow an act, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap an eternal destiny.

Ultimately, we choose WHO we follow, what our values are, and essentially what kind of life we live.

Deuteronomy 30:19: "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live."

Joshua 24:14-15: "...choose you this day whom ye will serve ... but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

And in the Book of Mormon, 2nd Nephi 2: 27: "Wherefore men are free according to the flesh; and all 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."
He ends this chapter saying (v. 30),"...And I have none other object save it be the everlasting welfare of your souls. Amen."

Luke 16:13 "No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."

Of course, let's not forget John 14:15 "If ye love me, keep my commandments."

After gaining a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we have our agency to choose who to follow. We cannot hope for blessings that are specifically promised to faithful Christians when we are not living the standards taught. We reap the blessings for whom we serve.

 "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13)

Want to learn more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Click HERE.
Message from President Uchtdorf is HERE.