Were we to meet God in our current state of mortality, his great glory and power would consume our imperfect bodies. Those who have stood in his presence in mortality and lived to tell about it explain that they must first be transfigured in order to withstand his presence. Some day this will change. Some day, the righteous will be able to stand in the presence of the Father without first being transfigured. They will do so with pure hearts, clean hands, and a perfect resurrected body. Although we are not yet prepared to meet him, his great plan of redemption has given us the necessary time to make stupid mistakes, learn how to deal with carnal desires, and overcome them all so that we can, once again, enjoy his presence—not as innocent spirit children, but as perfected, resurrected heirs of exaltation.
The greatest estate planner of all is the Lord:
’We will make an earth whereon these may dwell;
And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;
And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.’ (Abr 3:24-26)
Hugh Nibley
“We are being tested every minute of the day by the choices we make, by the reactions we have, by the things we say, by the things we think about. It’s like the ancient Christian doctrine of the two ways, the way to the right and the way to left, whichever they are. You must make the choice, and you may have made the wrong choice every day of your life up until now, but as long as you are here it is still not too late. You can still make the right choice-every minute you can make the right choice. It’s never too late to make the right one…We have a time to repent; ’therefore this life became a probationary state.’ Well, it can’t be anything else; it’s a time to prepare to meet God. That’s why we need the gospel here.” (Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Lecture 48, p. 327)
Jeffrey R. Holland
"’Our second estate is indeed a probationary state. The choices we are called upon to make every day of our lives call forth the exercise of our agency. That we fail so frequently to think and do that which is right is not evidence against the practicality of righteous living. We do not falter and stumble in the path of righteousness simply because we do nothing else, but because too often we lose the vision of our relationship with God. The incessant din and cackling ado of this turbulent life drown out the message which asserts that, as man is, God once was, and that as God is, man may become.
"’If we will not dance to the music of materialism and hedonism but will remain attuned to the voice of godly reason, we will be led to the green pastures of respite and the still waters of spiritual refreshment. All the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune this world can hurl against us are as nothing when compared to the rewards for steadfastness and faithfulness. It would behoove us all to fix our sights more consistently upon the things which are everlasting and eternal. This world is not our home.’
“Those lines are from the valedictory address at the Utah state prison graduation exercise I mentioned at the outset. The speaker was about fifty years of age and has been behind bars for more than half of those years. He knows whereof he speaks.” (However Long and Hard the Road, p. 63)