Agency, the privilege to choose our thoughts and actions is freely given to each of us by our Father in Heaven. This gift has not come without a price. As previously discussed in my post, The War in Heaven is NOT Over, a great battle was fought in heaven to enable us to have this agency, and a great many of our Father’s children, those who chose to fight on the side of Lucifer, lost their souls to wickedness. Beyond that, the most perfect blood that has ever been on this earth was sacrificed to preserve our agency, that of our Savior Jesus Christ—a high price indeed!
No matter what challenges we face, no matter how difficult our trials may be, the choice before us is always the same—to choose God or mammon—to choose God’s way or man’s way. The Apostle Paul spoke of the price paid for the unwise use of moral agency when he warned “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). The death he speaks of here is both spiritual and physical.
In my mind the wages Paul is referring to are counterfeit, they have no real value. Instead they appear on our personal ledgers as a cost or expense, a debt incurred by the poor use of agency. The payment of which is owed to and demanded by the laws of justice. Fortunately this debt has already been paid by Christ’s atoning sacrifice. The Apostle Paul taught the Corinthians: “What? know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price” (1 Cor 6.19-20; emphasis added).
It has been said that we can choose how we act, but we can not choose the consequences of our actions. And while this is often true, it is not always the case.
“Decisions determine Destiny”
If we choose to be obedient, to follow the Savior, to repent when we err and make and keep sacred covenants with God, then the consequence of those choices — eternal life, is assured.
Since our choices and their consequences are linked, it is not only our privilege to choose to obey the commandments, but to therefore also choose eternal life. In the Book of Mormon the prophet Nephi explained it this way, “Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man [agency, commandments, opposition, redemption from the effects of sin through the Atonement]. 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).
The loss of future agency and the resulting unhappiness, even misery are some additional costs incurred by choosing unwisely. Poor choices can erode, and undermine our ability to make future choices. Often one bad decision leads to the next and the next until we have forfeited or surrendered our agency entirely and are left to deal with the full impact of the consequences.
A tragic example of this is illustrated in an experience my family had while at a nearby beach celebrating the birthday of our oldest daughter, Brittany. On this occasion three teenage boys passed by us and went down to the beach to swim. The red flags were out on the lifeguard towers, signaling a ‘rip tide’—a dangerous condition in which the water underneath the surface is pulling out to sea. They disregarded the posted flags and signs warning of the danger. After some time, two of the young men swam ashore and staggered up onto the beach exhausted. We watched the commotion as they frantically gestured out to sea. Their friend had been caught in the current and was drifting further and further from the shore. The lifeguard responded immediately and with a rescue board under his arm he dashed into the surf.
Sadly, before the lifeguard could reach him, the young man became fatigued and disappeared below the water’s surface. Coast Guard helicopters and divers joined the effort and searched for hours in vain. Later in the day his body washed ashore several miles down the coastline. Those young men had agency when they arrived at the beach that day, and they had agency when they read the warning signs, but as soon as they entered the water they gave up a portion of their agency and had to struggle with the consequences of their unwise choice.
When we ignore the warning signs and posted red flags in life we give Satan one more weapon to use to his advantage. The longer we persist in ignoring the warning signs the further we drift out to sea and away from the safety of the shore.
Of course, not all negative consequences manifest themselves so tragically or immediately. Some consequences are cumulative or delayed, like a ticking time bomb constantly marching towards eventual detonation. It is a mistake to misread the delayed effects of some poor choices as loopholes in the balance between agency and natural consequences. Rest assured, without the proper and timely application of the atonement in your life, through complete repentance, any efforts to defuse the bomb will be unsuccessful and the devastating consequences of sin will be felt.
There is another, perhaps even more tragic, very real cost of free agency. I’m speaking about the cost paid by innocent bystanders, persons who are doing their best and making good choices, who through no fault of their own are impacted by the poor choices of others. Unfortunately, and all too often those who are willfully disobedient, reckless or foolish when exercising their right to act for themselves make choices that injure friends, family or those who happened to be in their path.
Several years ago I visited with a young man who had recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq. He was part of the “surge” that was so widely acclaimed for turning the tide of war in that distant land. In the course of his duty he witnessed many tragedies, including the loss of a close friend’s life in a most horrific manner. These experiences weighed heavily on his heart as he attempted to reconcile such a tragic event with his belief in a living and loving God. He struggled mightily with the question, “If there is a God, and if he loves us, why would he allow these things to happen?”
Questions like this are asked every day in an effort to make some sense of the suffering following natural disasters and gross crimes against humanity. Other times the very same questions arise from the seemingly untimely death of a child or prolonged suffering resulting from the ravages of disease. Some events can readily be traced back to the poor use of agency and the natural consequences, while others can not and we are left to search for understanding.
Elder Richard L. Evans said: “Some of the ponderable problems, the unanswered questions, the seeming injustices and discrepancies and uncertainties . . . which we often have a difficult time in reconciling, will find answer and solution and satisfaction if we are patient and prayerful and willing to wait. Part of them are the price we pay for our free agency. We pay a great price for free agency in this world, but it is worth the price we pay. So long as men have their free agency, there will be temporary injustices and discrepancies and some seemingly inexplicable things, which ultimately in our Father’s own time and purpose will be reconciled and made right (Improvement Era, June 1952, 67-68; emphasis added)” (quoted in Spencer J. Condie, “Agency: The Gift of Choices,” Ensign, September 1995, p. 19).
It takes faith, patience and willingness to submit to God in all things in order to develop the courage necessary to face life’s injustices and endure them well. When we are injured, offended or hurt by the actions of another we must take care to not to assume that the cost of their sinful behavior is also a debt owed to us. That we deserve a wage or payment for the harm they have done to us.
We should not take it upon ourselves to be the Lord's unappointed bill collectors, but instead we have been commanded to forgive one another.
The Lord commanded, "Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin.
I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.” (D&C 68:9-10)
We are wrong to think, when we have been adversely affected by another’s poor use of agency, they owe me, or I’ll get even. Both these sentiments presume that the debt for their sins is somehow owed to us, when in reality it is owed solely to the Savior. It was He who has already paid the full price for all sin. In addition it is He who provides the succor for those who have been thusly injured. When wrongfully injured we have but to turn to Him for comfort, solace and healing. It is He alone that can make us truly whole. It is through His atoning sacrifice, the process of repentance and in the end His grace that both our debts and our debtors will be paid.