Choose the Lord

One of the famous verses from Joshua is this injunction: “Choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).  The invitation to choose highlights the Lord’s desire for us to use our agency to choose Him.  I have to wonder if Joshua was really quoting from Enoch, for the Lord had said to him many generations earlier, “Say unto this people: Choose ye this day, to serve the Lord God who made you” (Moses 6:33).  Mormon quoted the verse from Joshua when he was describing the Nephite laws: “For thus saith the scripture: Choose ye this day, whom ye will serve” (Alma 30:8).  Lehi also gave a variation on the same invitation when he said to Jacob, clarifying exactly what we should choose: “And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil” (2 Nephi 2:27).  A fundamental part of the plan of God is that we must choose for ourselves to follow Christ, and there is no place for coercion.  Even in the very beginning the Lord introduced this principle saying to Adam and Eve: “Thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee” (Moses 3:17).  The plan centers around agency and one simply cannot be coerced to choose God. 

                What is also interesting is the language the scriptures use to talk about how God also chooses us.  The Savior taught that “many are called, but few are chosen” (Matt. 22:14).  In some respects we are all called—the Lord calls upon all of us to choose Him.  For example, Alma taught his people: “Behold, I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in his own name he doth call you, which is the name of Christ” (Alma 5:38).  And yet while many are thus called by God to turn to Him, only “few are chosen” by Him—and who is chosen?  The Lord declared in our day, “The time has come for a day of choosing; and let those be chosen that are worthy” (D&C 105:35).  In another revelation the Lord gave more detail on why some are not chosen: “Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen? Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men” (D&C 121:34-35).  To be “chosen” by the Lord we must be worthy and not set our hearts upon the things of the world.  In essence, we must choose to serve the Lord, and we will be chosen of Him.