From Elder Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his book “Chose Higher Ground”:
For each of us, life is a journey. Heavenly Father designed it for us out of love. Each of us has unique experiences and characteristics, but our journey began in the same place before we were born into this world.
We were taught by Elohim, the Father of our spirits. We loved Him and wanted to be like Him forever. He told us plainly what it would require for us to have that joy. We would have to receive a physical body with all the trials that would bring. We would be subject to illness and have within our bodies the process which would finally lead to death. And our bodies would have within them powerful cravings for physical satisfaction.
Heavenly Father explained to us what it would take to make the journey from where we were then to be with Him and forever and live the life that He lives. We would make the journey through life without a memory of our time with him in the Spirit world. And the only way back for us to overcome physical death. And our bodies would have in them powerful cravings for physical satisfaction.
Heavenly Father explained to us what it would take to make the journey from where we were then to be with him forever and live the life He lives. We would make the journey through life without a memory of our time with Him in the spirit world. And the only way back to Him would be for us to overcome physical death and the effects of sin which would come from our breaking the commandments. He told us that we could not overcome the effects of either death or sin by ourselves—without having a Savior who would break the bands of death and provide a way for us to be washed clean from sin which we would surely commit.
You know from the scriptures revealed by God through prophets that there was a rebellion in the Spirit world when the plan for our journey was offered to us. Those who rebelled did not want to accept and to depend upon a Savior nor run the risk that they might not return again to Heavenly Father. You were among the brave, the faithful, and the true in that conflict. You accepted the Savior and the plan for this journey to return to the joy of our Heavenly Father’s presence.
You are remarkable even among those who chose right in the contest in the spirit world. You qualified to come into mortality and to make the journey at a time when the gospel of Jesus Christ was on the earth. And among the billions of Heavenly Father’s children now living, you were privileged to find the gospel of Jesus Christ and His true Church. You have chosen to make the journey of life walking in the light.
Every child of Heavenly Father born in the world is given at birth, a free gift, the Light of Christ. You have felt that. It is the sense of what is right and what is wrong and what is true and what is false. That has been with you since your life began. The fact that you were baptized and received the Holy Ghost is evidence that you chose to walk in the Light of Christ.
When you were confirmed a member of the Church, you were given the right to have the Holy Ghost as your companion, The Holy Ghost is a powerful source of light to recognize truth, to follow and love the Lord Jesus Christ, and to find your way back to God after this life.
But the spirit who led the rebellion in the world before still opposes the plan and wants you to be miserable. He wants you to never find your way home again. The enemy of your soul knows you and your goodness. He knows that if he can turn you away from walking in the light, he can both catch you and stop you from others along the journey. He knows how good you are and your power to influence hundreds of Heavenly Father’s children in this life, and thousands over the generations that will follow your path. If he can get you to wander away from the light on you journey, he can do harm and bring misery to many.
God recognizes your great importance and that you have chosen to walk in the light He offers you. Such choices are not always easy to see clearly . You make choices every day and almost every hour that keep you walking in the light or moving away towards darkness. Some of the most important choices are on what you set your heart upon.
There are so many things you may consider desirable . For instance, all of us want, to some degree, the approval of other people. All of us feel a need for friends. All of us are searching for some evidence that we are persons of worth. We make choices based on those desires. Some might lead us away from the light God offers us as a guide. Some may brighten the light by which we can find our way.
As I look back, I realize that I was unaware of the importance of some of those desires and choices. I wanted to be selected for athletic teams. I wanted to do well in school. I wanted to find good and true friends. And when I made the choices that came from those desires, more than realized, I was either moving away from the light our toward it. 970
Some of my achievements and some of my friends were major factors in my sensing light. Others, more than I knew at the time, were edging me away from the light. In important and long-lasting ways, choices I made to satisfy my desires for companionship and a sense of recognition were taking me either toward or away from the light to guide my path.
Long ago Heavenly Father, through his prophets gave us a way to know which choices matter the most and why—and how to make them—and how to make them. The best summary I know is in the words of Moroni as he quotes his father Mormon: “But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth go good continually; wherefore , every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God. Wherefore take heed . . . take heed that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or that which is good and of God to be of the devil.
“For behold my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as pain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the day is from the dark night. (Moroni 7:16-15).
The scriptures tell us the source and the power of the light. “For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given unto every man, that he many know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for everything which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to do good, and persuade to believe in Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.~~~Elder Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his book “Chose Higher Ground”: Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 2013) p.28-31 . . . .continued, see Walk in the Light II.
