Agency--It's A Choice

My study this week began with the buzz word from last week: "expedient." I pondered on what it meant to have expedience, or to be expedient. I found this verse to be a helpful catalyst:

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.
--2 Nephi 2:27

From that scripture, I moved on to 2 Nephi 26:24, which helped me understand that to be "expedient unto man" means to be of benefit to man. I searched the connection with Jacob 5:41, wherein the Lord of the Vineyard laments that the vineyard has died; moreover, he could not do more for the vineyard, as its trees chose to be overrun by wild fruits. I learned in Alma 26:37 that God is mindful of all this, and that he lets us choose liberty or captivity, because it is expedient unto us. In Mosiah 2:21, King Benjamin tells us that God created, preserved, lent breath to, and preserved us just so that we may have the ability to choose. The good king also said that we receive agency upon entering into a covenant with God (Mosiah 5:8).

I know that that was a lot of spurious information, so let's perform a little synthesis:

Expedient="of Benefit"
FREEDOM TO CHOOSE=What is most expedient

God is ever mindful of us and our choices

God has created and preserved us that we may have agency

God laments our bad choices, but lets us make them for our eternal benefit

The most freedom we can attain is when we enter into sacred covenants

It is apparent that agency is essential to the great Plan of Happiness. It is true that we must have the choice in order to learn, grow, and become more like our Father in Heaven. In this life we must undergo a refining process that involves the constant play between our choices, and the consequences that they elicit. This is the Plan we chose in the preexistence, and it is the Plan that we must choose to follow if our goal as Christians is to live with God and Christ once again one day, for nothing unclean can gain inheritance in the Kingdom of God (Ephesians 5:5). May we choose the better part is my hope and prayer for y'all this week, that we may gain eventual happiness in the eternities.

--Sean