Agency is a gift. The right to choose is necessary for our growth. We are a result of the use of our agency. Our choices determine the consequences of our actions. Agency can operate because there is (1) opposition in all things, (2) knowledge of good and evil, (3) laws and commandments given by God, and (4) the freedom to choose. This gift is better referred to as moral agency, which connotes responsibility and accountability in regard to choices (see Articles of Faith 1:2) You are free to choose liberty and eternal life or captivity and death (see 2 Nephi. 2:27).
Brigham Young gave inspired counsel concerning moral agency, its effects, and its blessings:
All rational beings have an agency of their own; and according to their own choice they will be saved or damned… .
The volition of the creature is free; this is a law of their existence and the Lord cannot violate his own law; were he to do that, he would cease to be God. He has placed life and death before his children, and it is for them to choose. If they choose life, they receive the blessing of life; if they choose death, they must abide the penalty. This is a law which has always existed from all eternity, and will continue to exist throughout all the eternities to come. Every intelligent being must have the power of choice, and God brings forth the results of the acts of his creatures to promote his Kingdom and subserve his purposes in the salvation and exaltation of his children… .
He has given them the privilege of choosing for themselves, whether it be good or evil; but the result of our choice is still in his hand. All his children have the right of making a path for themselves of walking to the right or to the left, of telling the truth or that which is not true. This right God has given to all people who dwell on the earth, and they can legislate and act as they please; but God holds them in his hands, and he will bring forth the results of his glory, and for the benefit of those who love and serve him, and he will make the wrath of men to praise him. All of us are in the hands of that God. (Discourses of Brigham Young, comp. John A. Widtsoe [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1954], 62)
Refusing to choose is also a choice, for passive neutrality also leads to consequences—often of a destructive nature. Let us cultivate the courage to make decisions based on eternal principles and act upon our righteous values.