True Christians--The Least Judgmental People On Earth

I was thinking this morning of all the teaching that the Savior did while on this earth, and realized that if we really believed him and wanted to follow the things that he taught--then we would truly be the least judgmental people on earth. Why?? Because we are all sinners. We all make mistakes; He was the only sinless one, and without His sacrifice none of us would ever make it to heaven anyway.

He taught us to love and forgive others--If we want to be forgiven-- and to not judge others by their appearance---only He knew the intent of ones heart and the thoughts of their minds.

He taught us that as we judge, so shall we be judged ourselves---that ought to be a very good reason for us to judge with kindness and forgiveness--with love in our hearts for all our brothers and sisters---especially if we are to be ultimately judged by our own standards of judgement.

I love the story my mother told me about an incident she once witnessed from her apartment window. She and her sister were watching below as there was an apparent robbery committed in the store nearby. The police were holding a woman's purse and questioning a large, rough looking young man and a short, little elderly woman. My mother, who was also elderly herself at the time, commented on how sad it was that that anyone would steal from such a poor elderly woman---and wondered what the world was coming to.

When the police were finished questioning the two, the elderly woman was handcuffed and taken away by the officers. Needless to say, by mother felt terrible at assuming that the old woman was the victim, and she said that it taught her a valuable lesson---in not judging anyone by their appearance ever again.

The Savior taught that Charity is essential to our Eternal Life--In Corinthians 13:2 we learn "and though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." Charity is the pure love of Christ, which men can feel through the Holy Ghost. I believe that it causes us to see others through Christ's eyes---and thereby feel Christ's love for others as if it were our own---a gift from God.

I remember a wise man telling me a story about his experience in learning about charity in his life. He was a wealthy business man living in Germany at the time and he worked with other important business associates. One of the men, he said, was very argumentative and seemed to disagree with him in most of their meetings together. He told me that, as a result, he had angry feelings towards the man. Since he was also a good Christian, he felt badly about the feelings he was harboring towards his associate. He told me that he prayed with all the energy of his heart to have charity towards this man and to find forgiveness in his heart. He said that through the Holy Spirit, he had a complete change of heart and his unkind feelings were changed to a Christ-like love for this person. He recalled the later meetings with this gentleman as totally different---his changed heart healed their relationship and they even became dear friends. He taught me what true charity really was---our hearts changed ---to be able to feel Christ's love for others as our own.

If all true Christians had charity---as our scriptures teach us---we would truly be the least judgmental people on earth.