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obedience; progression and eventual accomplishment (Maxwell)

 “...obedience [is not] a mindless shifting of our personal responsibility. Instead, it is tying ourselves to a living God who will introduce us—as soon as we are ready—to new and heavier responsibilities involving situations of high adventure. Obedience, therefore, is not evasion; it is an invasion—one that takes us deep into the realm of our possibilities.

What God says He has in store for us will, in literal actuality, require a peculiar people (as mortals measure peculiarity), a people particularly suited for everlasting chores elsewhere. Therefore, it isn't that God seeks to shape us capriciously, just to prove that He is in charge; He is fitting us for special chores for which there are rigorous and nonwaivable specifications. There will be only one recruitment effort among us for any aspirants to such adventure, only one set of standards to be followed, and only one narrow and precise path of development for those so recruited. But when we are safely beyond the narrowness of this mortal passage, we will come upon a scene of such expansiveness that solar systems will seem like backyards and galaxies like neighborhoods! Indeed, as we grow, the universe shrinks—and yet our developed capacity to love our neighbors will find no difficulty in being put to work among God's creations.

As we come to understand and experience God in all His perfected attributes and as we struggle to develop these same attributes in ourselves, we move from appreciation for Him to adoration of Him! Just as the love of God for us is unconditional, one day ours for Him will be likewise. This is what the first commandment is all about. But even then, the adoration and awe we have developed for God will take humble and eternal notice of the vital fact stressed by John—that God loved us first. (1 John 4: 19.) Indeed, while God's great plan of redemption was made feasible by His omniscience and His omnipotence, it was made inevitable because of His perfect love for us!”  

Neal A. Maxwell from All of These Things Shall Give Thee Experience
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