In the Dragon Ball Z universe, a major theme is Earth’s superhero Goku’s huge improvements in strength and skill. Late in the series, he is granted God-like powers that enable him to go toe to toe with the almost omnipotent Lord Beerus. To Beerus’ surprise, Goku admits he is upset that he doesn’t enjoy his new God-like powers because he couldn’t attain them by his own efforts.
This fictional dilemma is interesting because of the parallel to our own development as humans. What are powers we can't reach on our own? If we rely on God for every breath, isn't it practically everything? Clearly, a human baby would die on its own. Yet, while we all owe life and the good things in our lives to the sacrifices of others, we tend to value most the things we have personally invested the most in.
“You didn’t build that,” sends waves of jarring pain through us; we want credit for our efforts (and sometimes, just for our desires or intellectual property, so to speak). In one sense, this is completely true: without the gift of life, agency, and resources (including principally the wonderfully engineered environment we call Earth), we could not have accomplished a task as simple as breathing. Truly, as King Benjamin proclaimed, we owe all we are and hope to be to our God (Mosiah 2:34), whether we acknowledge it or not. Physically, this is self-evident (if you do catch humans building another solar system on their own steam, get back to me). Spiritually, the Atonement also abundantly does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. God is not only the Creator but the Redeemer of all things that will be redeemed.
But even knowing all this, we still long to say, “I did it myself,” or, “I earned it.” Where does this urge to provide for ourselves (and our families) come from? The Lord condemns those who do not work. But if even the hard-working are unprofitable servants, why would he distinguish between the two? The only explanation is the one God gives: that He loves us. It is not for a short-term profit, but for our own eternal good, that God sacrifices everything to give us an opportunity to inherit everything He has.
Even though God is technically still the owner of all things, He lets us make real choices with real consequences. Witness pollution, famines, diseases, extinction, etc. that man’s poor choices have caused; witness also the incredible advances in technology, new species created, medical cures, etc. God could swoop in like an overprotective parent and give us the right answers, but he usually is content to gently guide us, with only occasional flashes of pure inspiration to further our progress. As far as current parameters permit, He wants us to be independent and improve on our talents with as little or as much help as He chooses to bestow.
And what are those parameters? Like Goku, we have the potential to exercise the very powers of God. This is our birthright and our potential. But if we ever attempt to take these powers on our own terms, the most we can accomplish is to cut ourselves off from the powers of heaven and join the prince of all liars, the great would-be king whose quest for Godhood on his own terms has inexorably brought misery. (D&C 121:34-37) “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” (1 Pet. 5:5) So, like so many other things we observe, the impulse to be independent and work hard for what we receive is two-edged: it is the driving engine of enormous good as long as we recognize God and glorify Him in our efforts (D&C 59:21; Matt 5:16); but the instant we put Him second, it pulls us toward damnation. As C. S. Lewis put it, “A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” (Mere Christianity, book 3 ch. 8)
Ultimately, our potential lies not in weaning ourselves from God as quickly as possible, but in accepting the full partnership He wishes to bestow on us: “The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.” (D&C 121:46)
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