How to treat other people

A couple years ago I got a notice that a bill of mine had moved to collections. I had never received the first bill, so as soon as I received this, I paid the collections company online. However, they were pretty shady. I called customer service to verify the payment had gone through because I thought I made a mistake , and he was pretty vague/unhelpful about whether or not my payment went through and whether or not they would charge me more, which I wasn't pleased about since I had never seen the bill before. At some point, I got pretty upset with him and made some pointed remarks.

At the same time I read D.C. 98. This section was received because the Saints were in the midst of great persecution, and the Lord was counseling them on how to react to that persecution. Here's a couple great verses:

23Now, I speak unto you concerning your families—if men will^asmite you, or your families, once, and ye ^bbear it patiently and^crevile not against them, neither seek ^drevenge, ye shall be^erewarded;

24But if ye bear it not patiently, it shall be accounted unto you as being ^ameted out as a just measure unto you.

It sounds like if we are persecuted and bear it patiently we'll be blessed. However, if we do not bear it and instead act out against them in a similar way to how they treated us, then we've actually been treated justly. In other words, if someone is a jerk, but we're a jerk back, then we deserve each other.

It's a great lesson for me that day. The guy was not helpful and a little mean first, but I was mean back, so we just deserved each other. I was not in any way better than him. Clearly I showed that through my actions.

I appreciated that timely lesson and hope to always remember it.

LaDon

God Pays Attention to Us

I was just asked to teach Gospel Doctrine along with Jamie this week, so I'm reading the scriptures in the lesson this morning. Here's what jumped out at me from Matthew 10:

22And ye shall be ^ahated of all men ^bfor my ^cname’s sake: but he that ^dendureth to the end shall be saved.

23But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.

29Are not two ^asparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.

30But the very ^ahairs of your head are all numbered.

31Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more ^avalue than many^bsparrows.

These verses actually seem somewhat opposite of one another. Verses 29-31 say that God is very mindful of the entire world, even sparrows, and by extension, is very mindful of the apostles. Verses 22 and 23 say that the 12 will face extreme opposition.

As a conclusion, we should not equate passing through tough times as a sign that God isn't mindful of us. That is not at all the correct metric.

LaDon