The Test of Mortality

This is one of the first insights in Messages from the Scriptures. It was originally posted at my publisher's blog (and of course, it can be found in the book itself).

The test of mortality is to see if we will use our will to keep God’s commandments.

And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them. (Abraham 3:25)

Sacrifice was a very important part of the Mosaic law (see Exodus 29, for example). Yet, even with so many directions and decrees concerning the law of sacrifice, God said, “If ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord, ye shall offer it at your own will” (Leviticus 19:5). God does not force us to obey His commandments; rather, He asks us to obey out of our love for Him, and He promises us blessings for obedience (see D&C 130:20–21). When the Lord told Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (see Genesis 2:16–17), He didn’t stop them from partaking. Obviously, He could have set cherubim to guard that tree just as He later did with the tree of life (see Genesis 3:24). God is not interested in forced obedience. He has placed us in this life of trials and adversity, as He told the Israelites, to humble us and see if we will keep his commandments (see Deuteronomy 8:2). As President Ezra Taft Benson explained, “The great test of life is obedience to God” (Ezra Taft Benson, “The Great Commandment—Love the Lord,” Ensign, May 1988, 4).