‘Our selections reflect our desires’ Young Men leader teaches at BYU–Idaho

Brother Michael T. Nelson’s grandson once asked his mother, “Why are we here on Earth? If God knows all the things, then He knows what selections I’ll make. Why can’t He just send me now to where He knows I’ll decide to go?”

Brother Nelson’s daughter responded that in an institute class she attended years earlier, they discussed an identical query because it related to God’s command to the prophet Abraham that he sacrifice his son, Isaac. The class decided that God knew Abraham would obey, but “Abraham needed to know that Abraham would obey,” Brother Nelson said.

His grandson concluded that he needed to have the experience of selecting for himself.

Brother Nelson, second counselor within the Young Men general presidency, taught BYU–Idaho students at a Tuesday, Jan. 30, devotional that their experiences on earth grant them the chance to decide on the kind of person they need to develop into and the kind of life they need to live for eternity.

He said that God taught His children many vital truths within the premortal life, they usually are rediscovering these truths through the Spirit as they learn the gospel.

“As we discover truths on this life,” Brother Nelson said, “now we have the prospect to decide on what we are going to do with them.”

In 2004, President Boyd K. Packer taught: “A teacher of gospel truths is just not planting something foreign and even latest into an adult or a baby. Rather, the missionary or teacher is making contact with the Spirit of Christ already there. The gospel could have a well-known ‘ring’ to them.”

A probationary state

While Heavenly Father taught His children everlasting truth within the premortal existence, no amount of information could replace a “state of probation” where we are able to ”feel, taste, see, hear and select the kind of life we wish for eternity,” said Brother Nelson.

While God can have taught His children the way to look after their bodies, without them, they may not understand the implications of bodily ailments resembling sunburns. Nor could they fully comprehend the enjoyment that their bodies may bring, resembling the sensation of sinking right into a hot tub, he said.

Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught: “Our physical bodies make possible a breadth, depth, and intensity of experience that simply couldn’t be obtained in our premortal estate.”

Mortality, Brother Nelson added, is a time to check in a physical world the things people were taught as spirits within the premortal life.

Experience allows alternative

The experiences people have on earth allow them to decide on what sort of life they’re comfortable living eternally.

“Our selections reflect our desires,” said Brother Nelson. “Righteous desires make it easier to make righteous selections.”

Focusing on learning gospel truths can motivate people to make righteous selections with the intent of becoming, fairly than simply adhering to an inventory of do’s and don’ts.

Developing our appetites for truth

As a present, God has blessed His children with strong physical and spiritual appetites that may, if used appropriately, strengthen their bodies, relationships and spirits, he said.

“Everything we decide to feed our minds, through our eyes, ears and mouths, can increase our appetites for these familiar truths or it will possibly weaken them.”

How people feed their appetites influences their desires and the alternatives that result from that.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught, “In that cumulative process, today’s small inflection for good adds to what becomes tomorrow’s mountain of character.”

For example, said Brother Nelson, eating a sprinkled, sugary donut can diminish one’s taste buds for the subtle nutty flavors of a homemade slice of bread. And listening to worldly music could make it harder to understand uplifting music. He said that God often accompanies the words of pure truth with music, like basically conferences.

“The music you select to hearken to, day in and day trip,” said Brother Nelson, “can have more power to cultivate your desires and shape your selections than the rest.”

But quoting Church President Russell M. Nelson, he added that everlasting change in a single’s appetites “can come only through the healing, cleansing and enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.”

Living on this planet

While living in a world of accelerating darkness could be discouraging, the sunshine of truth will “shine with increasing intensity,” Brother Nelson said, with the contrast making it easier for people to discern between good and evil.

But whilst wickedness becomes more apparent, it is going to not be enough to easily avoid it. Rather, Brother Nelson told students they have to spend their time living like Christ did.

“A lifetime of real joy is built by investing time within the things which are celestially significant,” said Brother Nelson.

As people decide to develop into disciples of Jesus Christ and develop healthy spiritual appetites, they may have the opportunity to consistently live the celestial laws God lives.

“Gradually, we are able to naturally and intuitively see as He sees and wish what He wants.”