“Choose You This Day”—“Think Celestial”
We can choose to think celestial every day by praying, reading the scriptures, and serving others, even if we have made mistakes in the past.
Being Doers of the Word
Being a disciple of Christ means not just hearing the gospel and words of the prophets but also acting on those teachings.
Preserving and Promoting Agency
D. Todd Christofferson encourages BYU graduates to offer the kind of political leadership that preserves moral agency and accountability.
Choices for Eternity: Prophetic Counsel
Expanding on the prophetic counsel of President Russell M. Nelson, Kevin J Worthen teaches how to choose our own destinies.
Scholarship and Faith: Insights from My BYU Experience
BYU implements a unique form of teaching centered around scholarship and faith that draws us closer to the Savior’s example.
Six Rules for Success
BYU professor Gilbert W. Fellingham presents six rules for success in life from the perspective of a statistician and coach.
“Choose You This Day Whom Ye Will Serve”
Elder James B. Martino discusses the power that agency brings to our lives. You alone can choose "whom ye will serve."
How to Act While Being Acted Upon
President Kevin J Worthen shares insights on how we should act despite outside influences, while sharing examples from the campus community.
Free to Choose
Elder Rasband teaches about the the gift of agency. We are free to choose joy, to choose how we worship, and to choose to follow Jesus Christ.
The Path to Transformative Change
Pam Musil gives five suggestions to help make permanent change a part of your life. Her knowledge of dance greatly influences her advice.
“We Seek After These Things”
Elder Gong shares the lessons we have the opportunity to seek after now, so that in the future we can grow closer to Christ in understanding and love.
“Look unto Him in Every Thought”
We are all enticed and tempted by our surroundings. It is through our agency that we respond to enticements in a way that helps us become more like Christ.
Agency, Accountability, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ: Application to Sexual Assault
The doctrines of agency, accountability, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ lay the foundation for understanding the devastating issue of sexual assault.
Be 100 Percent Responsible
Agency and accountability are paired principles. Being responsible for your actions leads to having control over your life.
A Banquet of Consequences: The Cumulative Result of All Choices
Our choices have consequences. Satan tries to convince otherwise, but his plan only brings misery. God's plan brings lasting happiness.
“Without Compulsory Means”
When we choose to exercise our agency to learn, grow, and accomplish good in this world, our influence will naturally increase.
The Blessings of Choice
One great blessing we enjoy in this life is the blessing of choice—choosing the path our life will take and the type of person we want to become.
Free to Choose Liberty or Captivity
With our agency, we can choose to follow the Savior and experience joy and liberty or to follow Satan and experience misery and captivity.
Our Essential Spiritual Agency
By using our agency to follow Christ, we choose freedom and eternal life. With poor choices, we "paint ourselves into a corner," limiting freedom.
The Sacred Gift of Agency
Science provides many answers to life's questions and the mysteries of the universe, but God also left uncertainty so we can depend on faith.
Moral Agency
By using our God-given moral agency in the way that Jesus Christ exemplified, we don't become God's puppets—we become like Him.
Decisiveness in the Face of Uncertainty: The Basis of Progress
Becoming decisive is part of our spiritual growing up. This growing up requires constant decision making. We must learn to be decisive, because indecision is no choice at all. If we fail to choose, we fail to act.
Choices and Changes, Burdens and Blessings
Everyone has freedom to make choices, which can be difficult, but as we choose to follow God, we choose to change and become better.
Agency and Context
I submit that a prerequisite for dealing in any way with adversaries is to love them. A wonderful side effect of living this principle is that it invites the Spirit to teach us how to handle the situation. Hatred and contempt are not consonant with the presence of the Spirit.
“Free to Choose”
Though we are free to choose our actions, we must weigh them against eternal consequences. Agency is a gift from God and we must treasure it.
The Wind Beneath Your Wings
At times we will go through trials and need to be lifted up. Control, attitude, and faith in God's power will create wind beneath our wings.
Seasons of Choice
In every season of our lives, we have choices to make. We must choose to come unto Christ, keep His commandments, and obey His voice.
Living on the Lord’s Side of the Line
Choose to keep God's commandments and stay out of Satan's territory. We are promised safety and peace on the Lord's side of the line.
Weightier Matters
An important discussion of controversial topics such as the family, abortion, choice, and diversity, in terms of earthly objectives and eternal goals.
“Remember That Ye Are Free to Act for Yourselves”
Some of you may be wondering what it would be like to stand here at a podium where prophets, apostles, presidents of the United States, a prime minister of England, Nobel Prize winners, university presidents, and many learned men and women have spoken—particularly some of you who may feel you are not quite as qualified as those who have occupied this place. As the least-qualified devotional speaker in the history…
The Three A’s: Atonement, Agency, and Accountability
The atonement, along with our own agency and accountability, work together to comprise the essence of the Plan of Salvation.
Do What Is Right
Richard G. Scott implores listeners to resolutely decide to keep the Lord's standards and live so that the Holy Ghost can inspire all to do what is right.
Agency: A Gift with Responsibility
Ruth E. Brasher, director of the BYU Honor Code Office, shares insights into the dangers of separating agency from accountability.
Get a Life
To "get a life," we must use our agency to love God and serve others. Then, no matter our circumstance, we can say "Life can't get any better than this."
“Therefore Choose Life”
Using the precious power to choose, we must choose to live by following the right rules, choosing discipline, and choosing the Master.
Choice—The Crucible of Character
Christlike character is cultivated through our choices, not our circumstances or predispositions. We are always accountable for our actions.
Free Agency and Freedom
God's plan includes agency, the freedom to choose. That cannot be taken away, but our freedom, or ability to act on our choices, can.
The Elusive Balance
There is a balance in life between looking to the Lord's hand in all things and using your God-given agency to guide you through life.
You and Your Free Agency
Your free agency is a gift from God and can save you from being tied down by procrastination, bad habits, and debilitating excuses.
On Giving and Getting
In life's opportunities for giving and getting, let us be more concerned with giving. Nothing worth getting comes without work and sacrifice.
Spiritual Is as Spiritual Does
Using the tagline, "spiritual is as spiritual does," Mary Ellen Edmunds reminds us that spirituality is determined by the steps we take to develop it.
Agency
The gift of agency is central to the Plan of Salvation. Using our agency to follow God's commandments gives us true independence and power over our destiny.
Let Your Light So Shine
Our light will shine and we will influence the world for good as we respect the agency of others and have pure intentions.
The Eternal Conflict
God desires all His children to return to Him, but the conflict of life is to choose between eternity's blessings and compromising for worldly things.
Moral Free Agency
Daniel H. Ludlow outlines the conditions necessary for our moral free agency to be effective. In our lives and our country, we must preserve this freedom.
Agency or Inspiration—Which?
Do we simply use our agency or do we rely on inspiration from God? We can't move forward without either when we counsel with the Lord.
The Endowment of Time
Time is a god-given gift that the wise will cherish and that the foolish will waste or misuse; what we do here will determine what we are in the eternities.
Doing the Right Things for the Right Reasons
It isn't enough to be doing the right things; we need to make sure we are doing them for the right reasons. Ask yourself, "Are my motives pure?"
Tickling the Tiger
The text for this speech is unavailable. Please see our FAQ page for more information.
What Are You Making of Your Life
What are you making of the many opportunities you have? Adam S. Bennion counsels students to take advantage of their time devoted to study and improvement.
Discover and Actualize Your Potential Self
Your soul is as powerful as the atomic weapons which our age fears. As you discover your divine potential, you will be able to actualize it.
Personal Liberty vs Social Control
Your personal liberty does not give your the right to flout standards and rules that you have agreed to, nor to ignore when others who do so.
Raising the World to a Higher Plane of Morality
The morality of the world can be no greater than the goodness of its individuals. Use knowledge and God's guidance to make the world better.
