Obedience

I was sitting in chuch this afternoon listening to the speaker discuss obediece to God's laws as our ultimate goal. That wasn't the point he was making, but that was how he was speaking of it. That's how we always speak of it.

Achieving complete obedience to all of God's laws is not our objective. What is it we are trying to become? We are trying to become as God is. Is God an obedient servant? We are learning to be masters, not servants. That is our goal.

So why are we asked to become God's servants our whole mortal lives?

A couple of things. First, how do you become a master? Each of us had to start as a student, an apprentice, a servant before aquiring the knowledge and skills to be able to do something on our own. We are learning to be gods. Until we are ready, we cannot be entrusted with such responsibilities.

Second, it must be noted that this mortality is only a small part of the path to divinity. There is still much to come. What is to come is very little known, and that which is known is not widely known (for good reason). Our training in mortality is only a small part toward godhood.

But the purpose of mortality is primarily to obtain, develop, and govern a body (our spiritual development happened prior to mortality). We learn to do this completely and thoroughly by following the training program God has given us, known as the gospel. We obey because we must if we are to learn the lessons needed to become divine.

Obedience isn't the ends we seek, it's the means to those ends. Making the distinction allows us to see our path more clearly, understand the purpose of the commandments, and thus make obedience to these laws more meaningful.