Daily Thoughts

In the Book of Mormon I read that Nephi called the people to repentance for all their wickedness and told them that if they did not repent, they would be destroyed.  Helaman 7:17-22 "O repent ye, repent ye! Why will ye die? Turn ye, turn ye unto the Lord your God. Why has he forsaken you? It is because you have hardened your hearts; yea, ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd; yea, ye have provoked him to anger against you. And behold, instead of gathering you, except ye will repent, behold, he shall scatter you forth that ye shall become meat for dogs and wild beasts. O, how could you have forgotten your God in the very day that he has delivered you? But behold, it is to get gain, to be praised of men, yea, and that ye might get gold and silver. And ye have set your hearts upon the riches and the vain things of this world, for the which ye do murder, and plunder, and steal, and bear false witness against your neighbor, and do all manner of iniquity. And for this cause wo shall come unto you except ye shall repent. For if ye will not repent, behold, this great city, and also all those great cities which are round about, which are in the land of our possession, shall be taken away that ye shall have no place in them; for behold, the Lord will not grant unto you strength, as he has hitherto done, to withstand against your enemies."

In the Old Testament we read about how even though Saul had been seeking to kill David, when David found Saul sleeping in a cave and could have easily killed him, he refrained form doing so.  But he but off the skirt of his robe and later showed it to Saul so that Saul could see for himself that he'd had an opportunity to kill him but did not do it.  Saul could see that David was more righteous than he, treating him kindly even though Saul had wanted to kill him.  How do we treat our enemies?  Do we take every opportunity for revenge against them, or do we use restraint and reward their evil with good?  1 Samuel 24:2-10 "Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats. And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave. And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily. And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt. And he said unto his men, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. So David stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way. David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, My lord the king. And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed himself. And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?  Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the Lord had delivered thee to day into mine hand in the cave: and some bade me kill thee: but mine eye spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord; for he is the Lord's anointed."

Some scriptures with a thought booklet talk about our motives behind giving or doing good things.  Do we do these things to be seen of men and loudly try to draw attention to our actions? If so, the notice we draw to ourselves from other people will be our sole reward.  Or do we quietly go about doing good and give to others because we love them and want to help them, rather than seeking for other people to see what we're doing and think we're great?  If we do good things out of love and a desire to serve rather than a desire for other men's praise, our Heavenly Father will reward us openly. So if we go out of our way to help someone else and nobody seems to notice, that's okay!  We don't need thanks and recognition from other people.  Heavenly Father sees what we did, and that's all that really matters. Matthew 6:1-4 "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly."
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