"For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened:
But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:"
2 Corinthians 8:13-14
I think this is interesting... that it isn't about suffering so that other people can prosper, but it is self-regulation, where we see that we have more than we need and we voluntarily offer it to people that don't have enough. Obviously, it doesn't always work that way, since we have free agency, but that's the Zion ideal. :) And it is a great ideal... to get to a point where we all care about each other enough that we help each other voluntarily.
I think in our society we sometimes want to mandate kindness, or build generosity into the law. I'm not sure how well that works. Once we are forced to do it, it sort of loses its efficacy for our souls. God's ideal is that we *choose* to love. That we progress enough as individuals that we reject selfishness and learn to be kind.
Today, as we ponder the needs of our brothers and sisters... let's not be satisfied with a law or a governmental program. Let's learn how we can, of our abundance, be a supply for another's need. And if they have something we lack and we can make a good trade, great. But even if not, let's go out there and practice some generosity today. Let's teach ourselves voluntary equality, and get that much closer to Zion.
But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:"
2 Corinthians 8:13-14
I think this is interesting... that it isn't about suffering so that other people can prosper, but it is self-regulation, where we see that we have more than we need and we voluntarily offer it to people that don't have enough. Obviously, it doesn't always work that way, since we have free agency, but that's the Zion ideal. :) And it is a great ideal... to get to a point where we all care about each other enough that we help each other voluntarily.
I think in our society we sometimes want to mandate kindness, or build generosity into the law. I'm not sure how well that works. Once we are forced to do it, it sort of loses its efficacy for our souls. God's ideal is that we *choose* to love. That we progress enough as individuals that we reject selfishness and learn to be kind.
Today, as we ponder the needs of our brothers and sisters... let's not be satisfied with a law or a governmental program. Let's learn how we can, of our abundance, be a supply for another's need. And if they have something we lack and we can make a good trade, great. But even if not, let's go out there and practice some generosity today. Let's teach ourselves voluntary equality, and get that much closer to Zion.
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