Daily Thoughts

In the Book of Mormon we read that Nephi fashioned other swords after the sword of Laban because he felt the need to defend himself against his brothers, who now called themselves Lamanites and had such a hatred toward him and those who followed him.  2 Nephi 5:14 "And I, Nephi, did take the sword of Laban, and after the manner of it did make many swords, lest by any means the people who were now called Lamanites should come upon us and destroy us; for I knew their hatred towards me and my children and those who were called my people."

In the Old Testament we read that Moses placed life or death, blessing or cursing, before the people so they could choose. We, too, have this choice placed before us.  We can choose to obey the commandments of the Lord and thus choose life and blessings, or we can choose to disobey and thus choose death and cursings. It's up to us what we decide to do.  Deuteronomy 30:15-20 "See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.  But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;  I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.  I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:  That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."

In some scriptures with a thought booklet we read that we should not judge other people.  God will judge us the same way we judge others, whether with harshness or mercy.  Sometimes it's very easy to see the mistakes other people make, while glossing over the fact that we, too, make mistakes.  Next time we're shaking our heads at something somebody else has done, maybe we could look inwardly and remember times when we, too, have fallen short and done things we should not have done.  Matthew 7:1-5 "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?  Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."