Who are you?

There is a book called Acting on Doctrine  by Elder David A. Bednar. I haven't read it but it comes with a DVD of a question-and-answer setting with Elder Bednar. One invitation he gave on that DVD was to pray and ask God to show you who you really are, and you'll be surprised what you see. Over General Conference weekend with a mission reunion and a temple session, I accepted that invitation. I won't write the very special experiences that happened as a result, but since then my studies have turned to the topic of conversion.

The objective of life's experiences and challenges is that man can become like God; to be like God in the sense that one's desires are the same as God's, and also the way in which one reacts and responds in any situation is the same way God himself would respond in that same situation. It's pretty clear when you realize that your potential is to work with God side by side in His kingdom one day. In essence it is an effective use of one's gift of agency, which must begin with seeing who one really is, especially in one's relationship with Almighty God, and end with the faith and the necessary covenants that will enable repentance and improvement when needed.

WHO ARE YOU?

Mosiah 4 tells of a people who were already very good-hearted and obedient, but who had the crucial experience of seeing who they really were. Verses one and two say that the multitude "had fallen to the earth, for the fear of the Lord had come upon them. And they viewed themselves in their own carnal state..."They saw that even with all their blessings, they still needed the Atonement of Christ to accomplish anything. They prayed for mercy and that their sins would be forgiven them. They knew that as sinners they needed to be cleansed. After this repentance the Spirit of the Lord came upon them and gave them a clean conscience.

A clean conscience is one of the most valuable blessings that can be received in this life. A clean conscience after repentance helps us to stop defining ourselves by our mistakes, but by our relationship with God, and it allows us to focus on other people rather than on ourselves. Once we see who we are we can better recognize opportunities to serve and help. We also can experience our "confidence wax[ing] strong in the presence of God" (D & C 121: 45), and when we kneel to pray we can have confidence in asking for His help. A clean conscience and a proper view of our identity brings freedom to act.

AGENCY

2 Nephi 2:26:

And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon..

As we repent and show our willingness to become clean and follow the Savior, our Father will likely put us in situations that require our action. Sometimes it's a raunchy movie that we should probably choose to turn off, or a task that needs our choice to volunteer, or simply that we are wasting our time on facebook and we feel a need to choose to do something productive. Whatever they are, these opportunities happen over and over every day. They are opportunities to strengthen our ability to act for ourselves and not to be acted upon. We are receiving Divine help to learn to act as Christ would act in the same situation, so that we can become like him.

FAITH AND COVENANTS

Learning to use my agency wisely is undoubtedly the most difficult homework assignment I have ever taken on, which is why it is imperative to recognize that repentance is available when I mess up. God did send us a Savior. The Messiah that came in the fulness of time suffered to redeem us from our mistakes and our bad uses of agency. Through covenants like baptism, we gain full access to that atonement, and we really can be clean of our mistakes, so that we can continue in the process of becoming converted to the Gospel of Christ; becoming like God. We know we won't get there anytime soon, because it is a process; one which requires a lot of faith and repentance that is less than comfortable, but we know that there is help every step of the way.

Truth is a knowledge of things as they were, are and will be (D & C 93:24). Forget about everything that you have come up with to define yourself and figure out who you truly are. Ask in prayer for that revelation. As you are able to see who you really are in relation to God, a path will open up before you, and you will have the opportunity to choose to act. I promise that path will lead you closer to the power of God. Such an opportunity is rare and priceless.