Though the assignment is to write a letter to someone else, I could not comfortably send this message to anyone else, before reviewing it myself, first.
I judge, not because I think I am better than anyone else, but because I want to think that I am better than myself and what I am now. I see others just like me in appearance, or mental/spiritual equality and begin to judge them. The first step to recovery is acceptance right? Wrong. The first step is the process of restraining myself from doing this! Brother Griffin noted in class, “Never look down and never look back, because you walk in the way you are facing.”
3 Nephi 13:3 says, “Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considereth not the beam that is in thine own eye?” I judge those that I do not even know, not just those that I see or pass on campus. I know nothing about their past, their ambitions, their life, yet I seem to have the authority to decide whether or not they are worthy of my approval. When did I become so high and mighty? I can’t judge another when I am personally so imperfect. I cannot accomplish anything by judging another, but I can accomplish so much by trying to understand them and by fixing myself, “Thou hypocrite, first cast the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” (verse 5.)
Not only is the act of judging a testimony of how shallow I can be, it’s insulting to Heavenly Father. For every man and woman on this earth was fashioned after the image of Him. Our bodies are one of the greatest gifts given to us by God when we came to this earth. It is the vessel of our precious souls. Judging is making fun of God’s gifts, and I do NOT have the authority to do that by any means.
Judging is for the proud and unwilling. How can I expect to serve a mission if, now, I cannot unconditionally extend my love as Christ does? It seems there are always ways to improve, and I can always hope to become more like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ every day in everything I do.
It was disheartening to hear a noted Mormon leader publicly denigrate a national figure using crude terms repeatedly.