Who's in Charge Here?

Before I get too involved here, I want to make a disclaimer that applies to all of my writings. It is this: that I am not an official spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Now, do I think that my statements are in harmony with LDS doctrine? Yes. Am I trying to oppose any official statement of the Church? No. Do I believe what I write to be true? Yes. But I do not speak for the Church and nothing I write should be taken as the definitive statement of Church doctrine or belief. In the end, these are my thoughts, opinions, and considered positions based on what I have learned and given to the best of my ability. Now, on with the show.

Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. (Doctrine and Covenants 58:27-28)

So, if we're agents unto ourselves, then doesn't that mean that we are in charge of our lives? This is one of the most wonderful paradoxes I've come across yet.

You're asking yourself, "What paradox? That makes perfect sense." Exactly. I'll show you.

We always hear that we're the masters of our own destinies. We also always hear that God is in control. Given that "no man can serve two masters" (Matthew 6:24), aren't those two truths mutually exclusive?

The answer, I think, is no. They aren't even in opposition. That's not the paradox. We are free to choose our actions, our thoughts, our feelings, and our words. We are free to choose our alliances and our loyalties as well as our enmity. We are free to choose our attitudes and to shape the world around us as we see fit. God will never force us to make any choice because such an action would violate the principle of choice and rob us of our agency: the necessary element of this probationary state. God would cease to be god. When we choose to surrender our will to God, however, and act as His spirit dictates in all instances - when we give over the only thing that is uniquely ours to give, as has been said, then we choose true discipleship - true conversion to the cause of Christ. There's no paradox here, just a proper alignment of principles.

The paradox - the truth I'm getting at - lies in the fact that by subordinating our will to God's we are making the ultimate, most independent choice we can make. The supreme act of personal freedom, the greatest rebellion against all things limiting, enslaving, or damning is to surrender our charge to Him by whose power we received it. In so doing, we ensure the continued operation of our personal freedoms to their greatest possible extent.

We know that God is wiser than are we. By turning out will over to His, we choose to be guided by an intelligence greater than our own. We opt for the wisdom that can guide us in the paths of true liberty. By deciding not to partake of the ungodly, we choose to not to limit our choices by unrighteous acts. Since we do not always understand what is right, we rely upon the Lord to make His will known to us. As He does so and as we follow His voice, we hearken unto the Spirit of true, unfettered freedom.

This is the paradox: that by giving up our right to choose for ourselves we make sure the very thing we have surrendered. When we begin, God is in control because He has all power, but we are in charge - we are the deciding party. We are agents unto ourselves. By keeping our covenants to do the Lord's will we become agents of God. God is both in control and in charge of our lives because we yield to His decision making as given through the Spirit and the words of teh prophets. The miracle comes when through this process our will is aligned with God's will, thus eliminating the adversarial force of the natural man, and granting to us once more the now perfect freedom to choose whatever we want. Perfect, because what we want will now never vary from what God wants. At this stage, God does not need to command in all things (or possibly any things) because we ourselves are anxiously engaged in doing good "of [our] own free will," which is now identical to His. As such, we are agents unto ourselves once again, just as much as we are agents of the Lord. We must surrender our will to God's but because He will not force us, the power to do so is in us and only in us. The sooner we do, the sooner we can be in charge of our lives.