God’s Plan for Us
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes called Mormons, are strong believers in God. They believe in a very literal, very personal God who loves them deeply and watches over them.
God has known us since before our births, when we lived with Him in a premortal existence as spirits. Our spirits took the form of a human being, but we didn’t have bodies of flesh and blood, as our beloved Heavenly Father did. There we learned and grew, and built our relationship with our Father. However, the time came when we had grown as much as we could in that setting.
This is much like what children experience growing up in an earthly home. They learn and grow, but the time comes when they must leave home in order to test their ability to live as they were taught when their parents aren’t directly with them, and also to be able to continue to grow and progress. So they leave home and then the real testing and growth begins.
Our Heavenly Father, being a real Father and a perfect one, also knew this must happen. He called us all together and explained that He had a plan for us, one we now call the Plan of Salvation or the Plan of Happiness. He would create for us a home away from Heaven, where we would go to live, called earth. There, we’d be born into a family and be given bodies. Our premortal personalities and selves would still be a part of us-we’d still be ourselves. But our experiences here on earth would also shape us and change us. We’d lose the memory of our time in Heaven, but many of us would be given the opportunity to be reminded of them, and the Light of Christ would help us to know the truth of those remembrances.
We would need help in order to be able to return to God. God knew we would never be able to live sinless lives here, and so would require a redeemer. Lucifer offered to be that redeemer. However, all he really wanted to do was to overthrow God’s plan. His own plan would have him controlling us like puppets. We’d surrender our free will and do only what Lucifer wanted us to do, think only what he’d want us to think. This meaningless life would result in no sin and automatic return to Heaven. No one would have to die for us or suffer for us. In exchange, he wanted all the glory and honor, with none given to God.
Fortunately, Jesus offered himself. He, unlike the selfish Lucifer, loved us and was more than willing to
Be Not Afraid - Greg Olsen
suffer and die on our behalves. He offered to come to earth to live like us, as mortal beings, but with an essential difference. He would live a sinless life and thus qualify to take on the sins we committed. He would die for us, and rise from the dead for us. With our agency intact, there would be purpose and meaning to our lives and we could choose for ourselves if an eternal life with God was what we wanted.
One third of the spirits in Heaven preferred the seemingly easier way and followed Lucifer. Lucifer was cast out of Heaven, since he was unwilling to relinquish his dream of power, and those who chose him went with him, denied the chance to come to earth. They have devoted all of the time since to making those on earth as miserable as they themselves are.
God’s plan is a loving plan, filled with every opportunity for us to become like God and to return home, but we must want to return home. We must be willing to make the necessary sacrifices, and to discipline ourselves to become fit for Heaven, just as we must discipline ourselves for any other good thing we want in this life. God, being the perfect parent, wants us to learn to love Him enough to obey his commandments, however much sacrifice might be involved in this very short time here on earth. When we’ve done so, we will be welcomed into His loving presence, our trials and infirmities taken from us forever.
When we return to Heaven, we will still be ourselves, just as we brought our personalities with us here. This is why we must prepare ourselves to be the sort of people who can live with God, and who can make Heaven a real Heaven for the others who are there with us. We must become as perfect as we possibly can before our deaths, working to discipline ourselves and remove as many of our imperfections as possible. Now is the time to become a person fit for Heaven.