TheDiscipleMD
When I was a young man I use to wonder why some people were so unfriendly, or different looking, or dress so strange. I would never verbalize it to others, of course, but in my heart I would find myself judging people. With age came experience, much of which was gained by my service in the church. I started to see that I had been very un-christlike in my assessment of others. It became apparent to me that others had very different backgrounds than the one I came from. I began to “grow up” and see them in a different light.
Over the years I have been in private interviews with thousands of church members. I have come to understand that each of us is born under different circumstances which give each of us our own “perspective” of life. Sometimes this “perspective” is, for us, the only true and perfect way of life. While the gate to heaven is ‘straight and narrow’, many of us are struggling and taking “baby steps” in the right direction, while others take steps by “leaps and bounds.” I have learned to be grateful that the Lord is the judge of us all, and not men.
I have learned that I can only properly judge the progress of myself (sometimes I can’t even do that) and then try to help others, as best I can, on the path back to our Father. I better see the wisdom found in the teachings of the Savior.
“Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:1-5)
Let us follow the admonition found in the scriptures that say:
“Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly…”
Mercy has always been a hallmark of a (true) Christian!