"But he said unto them: Behold, it is not expedient that we should have a king; for thus saith the Lord: Ye shall not esteem one flesh above another; therefore I say unto you it is not expedient that ye should have a king."
Mosiah 23:7
"Ye shall not esteem one flesh above another." We get echoes of this in many scriptures. Alma 5 asks whether we will persist in supposing that we are better than each other, and other scriptures talk about similar things, saying that we shouldn't possess things that are above another (D&C 49:20), that there should be equality (Mosiah 27:3)... we have lots of Zion scriptures talking about the ideal of having no poor, and having all things common, and we've talked about some of those scriptures recently. It seems like God really cares about this idea of how we think about other people. It's hard in some ways, because so much of life is comparison... we observe other people to learn how to behave, what is acceptable in certain groups, etc. So when we're anywhere, doing anything, there is usually comparison going on, at least in the background. More or less education, better or worse title, married or not, children or not, who is more beautiful or has smarter or more well-behaved kids, who has cooler clothes or jewelry or hairstyle or who can win in a battle of wits, or fists, or sarcasm, or self-righteousness... who is better at this or that... who has a better car, or house, or toaster. ;) Maybe today we can let go of some of that, or not tap into it... remember that we are equals in the sight of God. That, yes, we all have strengths, but we all have weaknesses as well. Maybe we're better than someone in one way, at one task or in one worldly measure... but if we step back and look, that other person is probably better than we are with something else, or in another way of measuring. We aren't superior... and they aren't superior either. We're the same. All working on the puzzle of life together. Maybe instead of competing, we can relax a little bit and learn from and help each other. Today, let's try to let go of comparisons and power struggles, and work on equality, and recognizing the value in ourselves *and* in the people around us.
I love Mosiah - for me, this is where he tells us to hate the sin but not the sinner, to love ourselves AND our fellow man; to remember that all our brothers and sisters in God are our neighbors and deserve and need our support and love. I know it's about leadership and not having one person in charge that makes all our decisions, preserving our right and our responsibility to make our own decisions - and to make ourselves as good as we are able - to strive for excellence and rejoice in it as one of the ways the Lord shows us His love instead of waving it in front of others as a symbol of our superiority - and you probably just said all that
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