What Is the Purpose of This Life? The Merciful Purpose of Our Mortal Probation

Why Are We Here? The Merciful Purpose of Our Mortal Probation

Why are we here?

Why did God send us into a world where we would experience temptation, suffering, uncertainty, weakness, and failure? If He already knew that we would make mistakes, why place us in circumstances where mistakes were possible?

The scriptures describe mortality as a “state of probation”—a limited but sacred period in which we can exercise agency, gain experience, repent, and prepare to meet God.

Before the earth was created, the Lord declared:

“We will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.” —Abraham 3:25

This life is therefore a proving ground—but it is more than an examination. It is a place of transformation. We did not come merely to demonstrate what we already were. We came to learn, choose, change, and become.

A Time to Prepare to Meet God

Amulek taught:

“This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God.” —Alma 34:32

Jacob similarly warned against those who receive God’s law but “[waste] the days of [their] probation” (2 Nephi 9:27).

To waste our probation does not necessarily mean that every minute must be filled with visible accomplishments. Rest, recreation, family relationships, worship, and quiet reflection all have an important place in a faithful life.

We waste our probation when we repeatedly refuse the invitations God gives us to change. We waste it when we continually postpone repentance, silence the Spirit, or allow our hearts to become fixed upon things that cannot produce lasting joy.

Mortality is precious because it gives us something eternity alone could not give us in the same way: the opportunity to make consequential choices while living behind a veil, surrounded by opposition and uncertainty.

God’s purpose is not simply to discover whether we can follow rules. His work and glory are “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). Eternal life means far more than continuing to exist. It is the kind of life God lives—a life filled with perfect love, truth, righteousness, creativity, relationships, and joy.

The ultimate purpose of mortality is to help us become like Him.

We Came to Choose—and to Become

The Lord already possesses perfect knowledge. Our mortal choices do not reveal information that God was incapable of knowing. Rather, they reveal and develop what we are willing to become.

A person may say, “I would always choose God.” Mortality gives that person the opportunity to make that declaration real—when obedience is inconvenient, when temptation is strong, when answers do not come quickly, and when faithfulness requires sacrifice.

Our actions gradually shape our desires. Our repeated decisions form our character. Eventually, obedience can become more than something we do; it can become part of who we are.

Lehi explained that because of Christ, we are free “to act for [ourselves]” and to choose “liberty and eternal life” through the great Mediator (2 Nephi 2:26–27).

God does not want forced servants. He wants sons and daughters who freely choose His life because they have learned to recognize that His way is the way of light, freedom, love, and lasting joy.

In that sense, mortality allows us to prove something not only before God but within ourselves. Through our choices, we discover what we truly love, whom we trust, and what kind of person we are becoming.

Learning Through Experience

God gave Adam and Eve agency and placed them in a world containing opposition. Lehi explained that without opposition, righteousness, happiness, holiness, and even meaningful agency could not exist (2 Nephi 2:11–16).

We often learn through contrast. We recognize peace more clearly after experiencing turmoil. We appreciate forgiveness because we know the pain of guilt. We begin to value selflessness after seeing what selfishness does to relationships.

Sometimes we choose something we believe will make us happy, only to discover that it leaves us emptier than before. If we are humble, the experience can teach us:

“That does not produce the life I truly want. I want to choose something better.”

This does not mean that sin is necessary or that we should deliberately disobey so we can learn. Sin always carries real consequences, and God never commands us to experience evil. But because He knew we would fall short, He prepared a way for even our failures to become part of our education—if they lead us to Jesus Christ.

A mistake does not automatically make us wiser. A mistake becomes instructive when we honestly acknowledge it, turn to Christ, repair what we can, and choose a better way.

Repentance Means We Are Not Condemned by Our Past

Without Jesus Christ, mortality would not be a hopeful probation. It would be an impossible test.

We would make mistakes, become separated from God, and have no power to repair that separation. But Christ entered the plan from the beginning. Through His Atonement, our mistakes do not have to define our final identity.

Repentance is not merely feeling ashamed. It is turning away from sin and turning toward God. It is a change of mind, heart, direction, and life.

The Church describes repentance as a gift made possible because God knew none of us would be perfect. Through Christ, repentance can produce a genuine change of heart and mind. It is not reserved only for serious transgression; daily repentance continually brings us closer to God (“Repentance,” Topics and Questions).

Because of Christ, we can learn from our sins instead of remaining condemned by them.

We can say:

“I was wrong, but Christ is helping me change.”

“I hurt someone, but I can confess, make restitution, and become more loving.”

“I fell again, but I do not have to remain where I fell.”

Repentance transforms mortality from a courtroom in which every mistake condemns us into a workshop in which Christ patiently remakes us.

That is one of the greatest joys of the gospel. Through the Savior, our worst moments do not have to become our permanent identity. They can become places where humility, compassion, wisdom, and dependence upon Christ begin to grow.

Becoming Like God Through Jesus Christ

The purpose of life is not simply to avoid punishment. It is to receive the divine nature of our Heavenly Parents.

Jesus taught us to become perfect, or complete, as our Father in Heaven is perfect. Peter taught that we may become “partakers of the divine nature.” Paul called us children and heirs of God.

The restored gospel teaches that through Christ’s Atonement, God’s children can progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine potential. This process requires patience, obedience, continuing repentance, and complete reliance upon Jesus Christ (“Becoming Like God,” Gospel Topics Essays).

Doctrine and Covenants 93 describes this process as receiving “grace for grace.” Christ received a fulness, and we are invited to follow Him until we also receive of the Father’s fulness (Doctrine and Covenants 93:12–20).

We do not become like God by independently perfecting ourselves. We become perfected in Christ.

We yoke ourselves to Him. We surrender our rebellious wills. We allow His grace to forgive, cleanse, strengthen, teach, and transform us. Gradually, His attributes begin to become our attributes:

• His patience becomes our patience.
• His mercy shapes the way we see others.
• His truth fills our minds.
• His purity changes our desires.
• His love becomes the governing power of our lives.

Commandments are therefore not arbitrary hurdles. They teach us how God lives. Every commandment invites us to practice a divine attribute until that attribute becomes part of our character.

Intelligence, Agency, and Eternal Existence

The restored gospel gives us a remarkable view of our existence before birth.

The Lord revealed:

“Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence … was not created or made, neither indeed can be.” —Doctrine and Covenants 93:29

The Lord also declared that intelligence is free to act within the sphere in which God has placed it. This freedom is essential to meaningful existence and moral agency (Doctrine and Covenants 93:30–31).

The elements themselves are also eternal. Spirit and element, inseparably connected in the Resurrection, make possible a fulness of joy (Doctrine and Covenants 93:33–35).

These revelations teach that God’s plan respects eternal realities. Agency is not a temporary inconvenience that God tolerates. It is fundamental to His plan for our growth.

However, revelation has not explained every relationship between intelligence, spirit, and physical matter. Scripture does not explicitly state that every particle of matter possesses humanlike consciousness or independently decides whether God is worthy of obedience. That idea may be an interesting interpretation, but it should not be presented as settled doctrine.

What the scriptures do clearly teach is that all creation responds to God’s word.

Helaman wrote that the dust moves at God’s command, mountains tremble at His voice, and the earth and waters obey Him (Helaman 12:7–17). Jacob testified that God created through His word and can command the workmanship of His hands according to His will (Jacob 4:9).

Why does creation obey Him? Scripture does not reveal every mechanism, but it repeatedly connects God’s power with His perfect wisdom, justice, mercy, truth, and righteousness.

God never abuses power. He never acts selfishly. His will is perfectly aligned with truth and with the eternal welfare of His children. He can be trusted completely.

Nephi and Power Aligned with God’s Will

The prophet Nephi, son of Helaman, provides a powerful example of the relationship between righteousness and divine power.

Nephi served with “unwearyingness.” He did not seek his own life or personal advantage. He sought God’s will and kept His commandments. The Lord therefore promised that all things would be done according to Nephi’s word because Nephi would not ask for anything contrary to God’s will (Helaman 10:4–5).

This does not mean Nephi became independently powerful. It means his heart had become so aligned with God that Heaven could trust him to act in harmony with divine purposes.

Jacob similarly taught that through unshaken faith, prophets could command trees, mountains, and waves in the name of Jesus. Yet in the very next verse, he emphasized that this power came through God’s grace—not human greatness (Jacob 4:6–7).

Doctrine and Covenants 121 reinforces this principle:

“The powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness.” —Doctrine and Covenants 121:36

Divine power cannot be separated from divine character. Pride, ambition, compulsion, and unrighteous dominion cause the heavens to withdraw. Heavenly power is associated with persuasion, patience, gentleness, meekness, sincere love, kindness, charity, virtue, and truth (Doctrine and Covenants 121:37–46).

This may be one of the deepest purposes of our probation. God is not merely preparing us to possess greater power. He is preparing us to become the kind of beings who would never misuse it.

Miracles and the Will of God

As we become more like Christ, our faith can deepen and God may work miracles through us. But miracles are not automatic evidence that someone has reached personal perfection, nor are they powers we earn and then exercise independently.

True miracles remain subject to God’s wisdom, timing, authority, and will.

The goal of discipleship is not to gain control over the elements. The goal is to become one with Christ. If greater spiritual power comes, it comes as a stewardship to bless others and accomplish God’s purposes.

Nephi did not seek power for himself. He sought God’s will so completely that God could safely entrust power to him.

That is the pattern: surrender before power, righteousness before dominion, and unity with Christ before miracles.

What Does It Mean to Waste Our Probation?

We do not waste mortality merely because we struggle. We do not waste it because we are imperfect, need time to heal, or repeatedly require the Savior’s help.

We waste it when we refuse to turn toward Him.

A person who falls many times but continually repents may be using mortality exactly as God intended. A person who appears outwardly successful but refuses correction may be wasting precious opportunities to become more like Christ.

God is not asking whether we completed mortality without falling. He is asking what we did when we fell.

Did we hide from Him—or return to Him?

Did we defend our pride—or allow Him to soften our hearts?

Did we repeat the same choices without reflection—or learn to desire something holier?

Did we merely obey outwardly—or allow obedience to transform our nature?

The warning against wasting our probation is serious, but it is also hopeful. If we are still alive, the invitation to repent is still before us.

Today can become part of our transformation.

The Joyful Purpose of Life

Lehi declared:

“Men are, that they might have joy.” —2 Nephi 2:25

The purpose of mortality is not endless guilt. It is not proving that we can achieve perfection without Christ. It is not accumulating enough good behavior to purchase our way into heaven.

The purpose is to come unto Christ and become new creatures in Him.

We are here to receive bodies, form eternal relationships, distinguish good from evil, exercise agency, make covenants, gain experience, develop divine attributes, and learn to love as God loves.

We are here to discover that wickedness cannot produce lasting happiness and that God’s commandments are invitations into a higher kind of life.

We are here to prove—through the lives we freely choose—that we desire the light, goodness, truth, and love found perfectly in Jesus Christ.

And when we fail, as all of us do, we are here to discover the miracle of repentance.

Because of Christ, failure does not have to be the end of our probation. It can become the moment we finally turn around. It can teach us what cannot bring joy and point us toward the One who can.

We are not here merely to pass a test.

We are here to become.

And through the grace of Jesus Christ, we can become far more than we could ever become alone.