Your 3 Choices

You have been given the task to give light to an entire city.  You have three power sources that you can turn to give the light, and you must choose only one source to do the job.  The first source is the sun.  The second, the moon.  The third choice is a single star in the night sky.  Which one are you going to choose to light up your city?

Naturally, you'd chose the sun.  It is light, it is bright, and it is much more powerful than the others.  With that much light, the people of your city will be able to see, work, and do more than if they were relying on the power of the others.  It is clearly the best choice.

Now, there are a couple of rules of usage for each of these choices, or else you won't be able to use it.  To use the power of the sun, you need to obey all of the commandments of someone else who has used the sun before and knows its power.  Not only that, but you must be sure to use this power for only good and never to further yourself.  You must go through regulations and processes in order to gain access to it.  You must work very hard yourself to use it.

To use the power of the moon, you do have to do good things, but there are less regulations, less rules, and less structure.  Less work for you to do.  To use the power of a far-distant star, you don't have to do much at all.  Whatever you want.

Now which source do you want to use?  If you really care about this city you're in charge of, and not so concerned about your own personal work you'll still chose the sun.  With it you'll do so much more and so many more people will be blessed because of it.  It really isn't comparable to the moon and the stars because of its brightness.

So you pick the sun!  You do the work, and great things happen because of it!

Now let's switch to reality.  There are three choices all of us must choose from.  They are comparable to the sun, the moon, and the stars in glory and in power.  These choices are what kind of a life we will have after we are finished with this one.  After we have died and are resurrected, we will be judged according to our works, and based on that judgment we will live different kinds of lives.  The degrees are known as celestial, terrestrial, and telestial, respectively.

With the celestial glory we shall do many things, we will grow and gain power and help many many people.  We will live with God, we will learn to create, and we will steadily become like him.  Like the glory of the son, we will do much.  The terrestrial and telestial glories are not quite as bright, they are comparable to the moon and the stars.  Still bright, still beautiful, but not quite like the sun.

What determines where we live?  It's simple: it's what we do.  What we do here on Earth determines what we will do after we die.  If we have followed all of God's commandments and gone through what he has asked us to do (namely having faith in Christ, repenting, being baptized by proper authority, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end), then we will receive that celestial glory that awaits us.  It's a lot of work, but it is worth it.

To gain terrestrial glory, we still need to do good and be good, but not to the same extent.  To gain telestial glory, we simply need to live by our own conscience.  It's less work to be sure, but what kind of a reward would that be when compared to what we could have had?

God is waiting for us.  He is ready to reward us.  He has provided a way through his son, our savior, Jesus Christ, to do so.  All we need to do is do it.  The power of the sun is waiting.  Do the work, and great things will come because of it.