Something strange happens when you put a group of people—any group of people—into a situation where their production can be measured. It really doesn't matter what is produced—mining coal, making cars, making money—you will find that the vast majority produce very little, some few produce a lot, and some outliers produce more than all the others combined. This behavior is described by the Pareto distribution.
The Pareto distribution is described by the Lord. For example, when he gave the parable of the sower, he explained how most don’t bear fruit, some bear thirty times the planted seed, some sixty, and some one hundred:
3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:
8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Matthew 13)
The Pareto distribution says, in effect, that 80% of production comes from 20% of people. The details are even more extreme. The top 1% of producers tend to produce around 34% of what is produced! Again, this pattern holds true anywhere human production is measured. It holds true as much in spiritual matters as it does temporal matters.
While production in this world is determined by a sophisticated cluster of factors, many of which are outside of an individual's control, spiritual intelligence is fully within the control of an able-minded individual.
How much we produce spiritually is determined by two things and two things only: how well we obey what God has revealed to us and how much effort we impart in seeking him (see Alma 12:9).
The scriptures are plain when it comes to these ideas. For example, Alma 13 plainly states that we are all given equal opportunity to grow spiritually, and any differences are solely due to obedience and effort:
1 And again, my brethren, I would cite your minds forward to the time when the Lord God gave these commandments unto his children; and I would that ye should remember that the Lord God ordained priests, after his holy order, which was after the order of his Son, to teach these things unto the people.
2 And those priests were ordained after the order of his Son, in a manner that thereby the people might know in what manner to look forward to his Son for redemption.
3 And this is the manner after which they were ordained—being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil; therefore they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly <u>great faith, are called with a holy calling, yea, with that holy calling</u> which was prepared with, and according to, a preparatory redemption for such.
4 And thus they have been called to this holy calling on account of their faith, while others would reject the Spirit of God on account of the hardness of their hearts and blindness of their minds, while, if it had not been for this they might have had as great <u>privilege as their brethren.</u>
5 Or in fine, in the first place they were on the same standing with their brethren; thus this holy calling being prepared from the foundation of the world for such as would not harden their hearts, being in and through the atonement of the Only Begotten Son, who was prepared. (Alma 13)
God provides an equal opportunity to all people, but many do not accept his invitation at all, and very few accept it completely, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:14) Indeed, “small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:14 NIV)