"Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers.
I know thy heart, and have heard thy prayers concerning thy brethren. Be not partial towards them in love above many others, but let thy love be for them as for thyself; and let thy love abound unto all men, and unto all who love my name."
Doctrine and Covenants 110:10-11
Christ tells us in the New Testament that he sends us forth as sheep among wolves (Matthew 10:16), and also that we should be wise, yet harmless. He doesn't want us to be the wolves or the serpents in the world... to kill or to deceive or manipulate. Instead, he asks us to be humble. In the view of the world this might seem like crazy talk, because being like wolves and serpents is how you get ahead. Instead though. God asks us to be the sheep, and acts as our shepherd.
If we listen to his voice, God will lead us, and answer our prayers. He gathers us as a group, helping us to learn from and help each other, rather than competing with and taking from each other. It's a hard thing to grasp sometimes in our society because it is a completely different world view, except perhaps among our closest friends or family.
Humility is not weakness, and unity is not naive. We don't have to step on each other to get ahead in the world. We don't have to hate each other because we are different from each other, or factionalize and despise people that are different than we are, or even those with different values and priorities. It's what God is saying about not being partial to our brethren... we have to learn how to be sheep and not wolves. To be wise, but still harmless. We have to learn what humility is *about.* It isn't just not bragging. :) It's seriously thinking that other people are cool. ... And not just some of them. It's knowing that we have things to learn from each other, and not deciding that one person is good and another is bad because of gender or race or religion or political or national affiliation... or anything else. It's realizing that we're a flock, and allowing the Lord to lead us and answer our prayers. It's learning to work together to make a better world. Today, let's join together in working toward that.
I know thy heart, and have heard thy prayers concerning thy brethren. Be not partial towards them in love above many others, but let thy love be for them as for thyself; and let thy love abound unto all men, and unto all who love my name."
Doctrine and Covenants 110:10-11
Christ tells us in the New Testament that he sends us forth as sheep among wolves (Matthew 10:16), and also that we should be wise, yet harmless. He doesn't want us to be the wolves or the serpents in the world... to kill or to deceive or manipulate. Instead, he asks us to be humble. In the view of the world this might seem like crazy talk, because being like wolves and serpents is how you get ahead. Instead though. God asks us to be the sheep, and acts as our shepherd.
If we listen to his voice, God will lead us, and answer our prayers. He gathers us as a group, helping us to learn from and help each other, rather than competing with and taking from each other. It's a hard thing to grasp sometimes in our society because it is a completely different world view, except perhaps among our closest friends or family.
Humility is not weakness, and unity is not naive. We don't have to step on each other to get ahead in the world. We don't have to hate each other because we are different from each other, or factionalize and despise people that are different than we are, or even those with different values and priorities. It's what God is saying about not being partial to our brethren... we have to learn how to be sheep and not wolves. To be wise, but still harmless. We have to learn what humility is *about.* It isn't just not bragging. :) It's seriously thinking that other people are cool. ... And not just some of them. It's knowing that we have things to learn from each other, and not deciding that one person is good and another is bad because of gender or race or religion or political or national affiliation... or anything else. It's realizing that we're a flock, and allowing the Lord to lead us and answer our prayers. It's learning to work together to make a better world. Today, let's join together in working toward that.
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