1. Do we have a guide
to help us choose the right and avoid dangerous detours? I have tried to
pattern my life after the Master. Whenever I have a difficult decision to make,
I have looked at that picture and asked myself, “What would He do?” Then I try
to do it. We can never go wrong when we choose to follow the Savior.
Thomas S. Monson, Choose You This Day, Conference
October 2004
2. Because the
eternal principle of agency gives us the freedom to choose and think for
ourselves, we should become increasingly able to solve problems. We may make
the occasional mistake, but as long as we are following gospel principles and
guidelines, we can learn from those mistakes and become more understanding of
others and more effective in serving them.
M. Russell Ballard, O Be Wise,
Conference, October 2006
3. You have agency,
and you are free to choose. But there is actually no free
agency. Agency has its price. You have to pay the consequences of your choices.
Dieter F. Utchdorf, On the Wings
of Eagles, BYU Devotional, July 2006
4. “Warn them that
they will encounter people who pick which commandments they will keep and
ignore others that they choose to break. I call this the cafeteria approach to
obedience. This practice of picking and choosing will not work. It will lead to
misery."
Russell M. Neilson, Face the
Future With Faith, Conference April 2011,
5. 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.” Now we are here on earth, where
opportunities to use our agency abound; for here “there is an opposition in all
things.” This opposition is essential to the purpose of our lives.
Robert D. Hales, To Act For
Ourselves: The Gift and Blessings of Agency, April 2006,
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/04/to-act-for-ourselves-the-gift-and-blessings-of-agency?lang=eng
6. By “moral discipline,” I mean self-discipline based on moral
standards. Moral discipline is the consistent exercise of agency to choose the
right because it is right, even when it is hard. It rejects the self-absorbed
life in favor of developing character worthy of respect and true greatness
through Christlike service.
D. Todd Christofferson, Moral
Discipline, Conference October 2009,
7. Choosing
to do what the Lord has defined as right will, in the long run, always lead to
the best outcomes.
Richard G. Scott - Ensign, Nov.
1998, 69
8. Men will be held
accountable for the things which they have and not for the things they have
not. … All the light and intelligence communicated to them from their
beneficent creator, whether it is much or little, by the same they in justice
will be judged, and … they are required to yield obedience and improve upon
that and that only which is given, for man is not to live by bread alone but by
every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
Joseph Smith, Teachings of
Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith (2007), 405
9. The decisions we make, individually and
personally, become the fabric of our lives. That fabric will be beautiful or
ugly according to the threads of which it is woven. I wish to say particularly
to the young men who are here that you cannot indulge in any unbecoming
behavior without injury to the beauty of the fabric of your lives. Immoral acts
of any kind will introduce an ugly thread. Dishonesty of any kind will create a
blemish. Foul and profane language will rob the pattern of its beauty.”
Gordon B. Hinckley, This Work Is Concerned with
People, General Conference, April 1995, https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1995/04/this-work-is-concerned-with-people?lang=eng
10. Our agency, given
us through the plan of our Father, is the great alternative to Satan’s plan of
force. With this sublime gift, we can grow, improve, progress, and seek
perfection. Without agency, none of us could grow and develop by learning from
our mistakes and errors and those of others…. I do not really think the devil
can make us do anything. Certainly he can tempt and he can deceive, but he has
no authority over us that we do not give him.
James E. Faust, The Forces That
Will Save Us, First Presidency Message, January 2007https://www.lds.org/ensign/2007/01/the-forces-that-will-save-us?lang=eng
We all have our agency to choose
right from wrong. It was given to us because of the fall of Adam while in the Garden of Eden.We all have the
choice to learn and grow by our mistakes. We will be held accountable for the
sins we have committed if we don’t ask for forgiveness. When making choices we
need to make sure that we are choosing wisely, the choices we make today is the
fabric of our lives.
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