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©iStockphoto.com/James Steidl
I had only been the bishop of the ward
for a few days when I got the call. I had never met the man. He
had just been out of prison for a few weeks. He was behind in his
bills because no one would give a job to a convicted felon. If he
could not pay his bills he would be returned to jail. He had no
one to turn to. He asked for help.
Providing welfare assistance was new
territory for me. My instinctive question was: “Does this
man deserve help?” It seemed unlikely that the man had met
or would soon meet any standards of worthiness. How could I use
the Lord’s funds for a sinner?
Fortunately I got counsel from the
past bishop. I should tell you about that man, my predecessor in
office. He was a welder by trade. His language and manner were not
smooth. When he had oriented me to my calling, he pointed out the
pile of paper on the bishop’s desk. “I’m a slow
reader. The Church letters come faster than I can read them. I’m
way behind on my reading.”
It turns out that academic prowess
is no predictor of spiritual power. When I asked the bishop for
his input on helping the ex-con, his answer was simple and powerful.
“What would Jesus do for the man?”
Suddenly the way seemed very clear.
Here was a man humbly asking for help. Jesus would take his hand,
lift him up, and set him moving along the road of life. So I went
to see the man. I sat with him, wrote him a check, and offered words
of encouragement.
Seeing Wrongly and Rightly
The longer I live the more I am aware
that I see wrongly. I admire the successful, polished saint while
disdaining the ne’er-do-well. If I had been a local in 19th
century Palmyra, would I have treated the Smith family well? If
I had been a meridian-of-time Jew, would I have scorned Joseph and
Mary as second-class citizens?
It seems that the favorites of heaven
have often been modest, broken-down folks just trying to get along.
Jesus puts them among us to see if we yet understand His invitation:
Love one another as I have loved you.
The questions become even more penetrating
as they become more contemporary. How do I respond to the young
man in the ward who seems to fake maladies to draw sympathy and
support? How do I react to the man who is in trouble with the law
for grievous sins? How do I respond to the woman who talks incessantly?
I squirm in answer to these questions.
Seeing as He Sees
It is human nature to do a quick assessment
of a person any time we meet someone new. We quickly categorize
this person as interesting, not interesting, or annoying. The assessment
happens so automatically that we are often unaware of it. But our
response is based on our quick assessment. We remain open, choose
to ignore, or decide to avoid a person. Of course our response can
change over time. With more contact, indifference may grow into
contempt.
This quick appraisal of people is natural,
automatic, and usually unconscious. It is also very destructive.
Contrast our usual question (“Is this a person I want to be
around?”) with Jesus’ standard question: “How
can I bless this person?” While we are looking for fun people
to hang out with, Jesus is looking for ways to draw every one of
us toward heaven and happiness.
We are looking for people who will
like us and cheer for us. Jesus is looking for people who need a
hand.
If an adulterous neighbor pushed into
our home and interrupted our lunch with friends in order to blubber
about her desolate state, how would we react? Would we be repulsed?
Jesus reacted with kindness and compassion for the woman in the
house of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:36-50).
If we heard that a ward member was
in trouble with the law for mishandling money, how would we feel
about that person? Would we shake our heads and cluck something
about thinking he was better than that? Jesus was a friend of publicans
and sinners. He went to lunch with them and treated them like friends.
If we were invited to help a family
with a filthy house and we found that it was littered with animal
droppings and unimaginable disease possibilities, would we help
gladly? Jesus embraced lepers.
Seeing and Acting
When we learn to see as Jesus sees,
we respond to need with glad giving. To the weak we offer succor.
For the hands that hang down, we offer lift. For the feeble knees,
we offer strength. (See D&C 81:5.) We start to think just the
opposite of our natural way.
Are we known that way as well? Are
we drawn to those who are lonely, annoying, troubled, and faltering?
Or do we prefer to hang out with the savvy, trendy, and smooth?
Seeing Beyond the Problems
Elder Bruce R. McConkie’s grandmother
was a widow from Moab, Utah. Elder McConkie’s father wrote
in his journal of the following experience his mother had:
Mother was president of the Moab
Relief Society. J____ B____ [a nonmember who opposed the Church]
had married a Mormon girl. They had several children; now they
had a new baby. They were very poor and Mother was going day by
day to care for the child and to take them baskets of food, etc.
Mother herself was ill, and more than once was hardly able to
get home after doing the work at the J____ B____ home.
One day she returned home especially tired and weary. She slept
in her chair. She dreamed she was bathing a baby which she discovered
was the Christ Child. She thought, Oh, what a great honor to thus
serve the very Christ! As she held the baby in her lap, she was
all but overcome. She thought, who else has actually held the
Christ Child?
Unspeakable joy filled her
whole being. She was aflame with the glory of the Lord. It seemed
that the very marrow in her bones would melt. Her joy was so great
it awakened her. As she awoke, these words were spoken to her,
“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these
my brethren, ye have done it unto me” ’ ” (quoted
by Bruce R. McConkie in “Charity Which Never Faileth,”
Relief Society Magazine, Mar. 1970, 169).
The Paradox of Sin
Joseph Smith set a worthy example for
us. He appreciated the honesty of those without pretense. "I
love that man better who swears a stream as long as my arm, yet
deals justice to his neighbors and mercifully deals his substance
to the poor, than the smooth-faced hypocrite. I do not want you
to think that I'm very righteous, for I am not. There was one good
man, and his name was Jesus" (Documentary History of the
Church, 5:401).
I am not saying that sin provides us
special standing with God. Sin is not recommended. But it is universal.
All of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So our
differences in goodness may not be as important as our differences
in humility.
And if men come unto me I will show
unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may
be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble
themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me,
and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong
unto them. (Ether 12:27)
Are we humble? Are we helpful to all
in need? Do we avoid judgment? Do we see in those who have made
mistakes a welcome opportunity to share the mercy that has blessed
our lives? Do we seek the interest of our neighbor? Are we willing
to remain open to looking for the good even in those who don't appear
to yet be successful, polished saints?
When we are His disciples, we do the works that He did.
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