Mormon 8:37-39 -- On Being Better

"For behold, ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.
O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, who sell yourselves for that which will canker, why have ye polluted the holy church of God? Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies—because of the praise of the world?
Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not?"
Mormon 8:37-39


This is interesting, because Moroni is saying these things because of a vision that he was shown of people in the Last Days... so our time, and this is what he thinks of the world that we live in. Since God showed him the vision, choosing the things that he saw, I imagine that the whole thing was pretty accurate and indicative of what our world is like. So, these are some things that we should specifically be careful of in our lives.

Today, let's make sure that we aren't prioritizing money, or adornments, over people... and specifically pay attention to what we can do to help people in need. Let's also make sure that we aren't acting ashamed of Christ in our lives... apologizing for religion, or worrying more about what other people will thing more than what God will thing. ... I'm not saying these are all easy calls to make, but if we honestly feel that we need to apologize for religion, then let's dig into that and go to God with it and ask about that rather than taking that discussion to the world first. If we are worried about how we will survive if we help everyone else, or about people taking advantage of our generosity, let's also take those things to God. He will help us learn proper boundaries in our lives, and help us know when to give. Let's not be the people that Moroni saw in his vision. Let's be better than that.