To Act, And Not Be Acted Upon

Today we had a lesson on this in Elder's Quorum and wanted to carry out the thought a little bit more. 2 Nephi 2:13-16:

And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away.

And now, my sons, I speak unto you these things for your profit and learning; for there is a God, and he hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon.

And to bring about his eternal purposes in the end of man, after he had created our first parents, and the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and in fine, all things which are created, it must needs be that there was an opposition; even the forbidden fruit in opposition to the tree of life; the one being sweet and the other bitter.

Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other.

So what is the difference? It has everything to do with the difference between being agents unto ourselves and giving up our agency.

An example: I had a roommate that it turns out that I kind of really appreciate now. He is a decent guy, but he just really struggled in some areas of his life. In the past year he had started drinking, was fighting a pornography addiction, and had a girlfriend with whom I don't think he was making the best choices with, so to speak. In his own right, I think he was actually a good guy. I think we shared a similar sense of humor, we liked the same sports teams, and just had a bunch of other odds and ends in common. At a different time, I think we could have been really good friends. But at the time of his life when I encountered him, things just always seemed to go wrong and this culminated in his getting arrested in the airport because he had forgotten that he was wearing a knife belt-buckle, which turned out to be a huge ordeal. After telling me his whole story, I couldn't help but think to myself how that kind of thing just never happens to me. In a short period for him, that kind of thing was always happening, and I think it has everything to do with his relinquishing control over his own life.

When we allow ourselves to be acted upon by outside forces it's because of what Nephi mentions in 2 Nephi 2:27:

Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. 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.

When we give up our agency because of sin, we become beholden to friends, relationships, debts, addictions, appetites, and consequences that quite literally are chains (or in the scriptures they are also called flaxen cords) that hold us captive. Sometimes the result is accumulating debt from poor financial choices. Sometimes we are trapped by associations that promote sin. Sometimes we develop attachments to people that continually make us feel hopeless and out of control. Unfortunately, I think I have felt the effects of each of these to some extent, and have been acted upon rather than been the actor. For my old roommate, it was so much that he felt that he had to move back home so that he could start over.

The purpose of being acted upon is simple - it is to exact the demands of the law on us and hopefully get us back to being agents again. It can come in simple ways too. Maybe not reading our scriptures in the morning can lead to a loss of the fulness of the spirit in our lives which leaves us feeling irritable or somewhat empty. Or maybe failing to apologize and make amends with someone leaves a relationship strained and difficult. What is interesting is that while our reactions might be to respond in anger or to become bitter, the consequences are there to help us reassert ourselves in a righteous way. Fortunately, too, sometimes those consequences come to bear quickly to restore us to that path. When we begin to right our ship, we also begin to see how eager our Heavenly Father is to reward our efforts (Alma 34:31):

Yea, I would that ye would come forth and harden not your hearts any longer; for behold now is the time and the day of your salvation; and therefore, if ye will repent and harden not your hearts, immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you.

Lately I have been formulating a ideal plan for the rest of my graduate experience here at BYU, and I was thinking a lot about how lucky I am that nowadays I don't feel beholden to anything, that my opportunities are many and in all kinds of different ways. I'm choosing between playing soccer more days a week or training for another marathon or taking up swimming; I am deciding to work towards either the business side of psychology or the human/health side; I have been considering lately (although not terribly seriously) the merits between medical school or law school further down the road; I am choosing between good and great friends. I am so richly blessed with people and opportunity right now, and I am grateful for it, and hope to have my eyes open enough to realize those choices that might force myself to acquiesce to be acted upon rather than being the one doing the acting.