How to be Free

In the book of 3 Nephi in the Book of Mormon, there is great destruction on the land after Christ is crucified.  The list of catastrophes includes:

• tempests
• quakes
• fire
• storm
• darkness
• winds
• floods
• buried
• drowned

Now, before all of this happened, the people went through what's called the pride cycle.  They would go through periods of righteousness and prosperity, become prideful and commit sins, and repent and try to do better.   They went through the pride cycle multiple times, but they had reached a point where the periods of repenting and righteousness were very short-lived or simply not there.  All of these earthly disasters were just an outward reflection of what the people had done inside.  This is what sin will do to you and your life. 
Now, if that's not enough to show you how important it is to always be trying to choose the right, maybe this will.  When we make choices, it will often be between something that will take you either closer to Christ, or more down the devil's path.  Here's something interesting about the devil's name:

Devil

Now, take away the first letter:

evil

He is very evil, but you already knew that, didn't you?  Let's keep going:

vil

He is vile and will do vile things to get you to follow him.

il

He should make you ill.  He hates you and wants you to be miserable, just like him.

l

If you follow him, you will end up in someplace not very happy.
Now, one more.  If you spell devil backwards, what do you get?

lived

I think that's incredibly powerful!  Doing the opposite of what the devil wants allows you to live.  It will let you be happy and have such great freedom.  
Of course, we all mess up.  I certainly do.  Christ knew we would.  He loved you enough to perform the Atonement, giving you the chance to repent and live with your Heavenly Father one day.  Repent now and go through a little pain, instead of waiting and suffering for a very long time.  This gospel is about progression, not perfection. 
Choose to live.
Choose Christ!