The Queen's Court is kind of like the world in which we live. We're in charge of our own court. The people we come in contact with daily, and the things we do. Those we know and those we don't know. Oftentimes it's hard to judge things by the way they appear. Sometimes it's takes deep concentration to see what is really there.
Have you ever done "Magic Eye"? Scientifically known as stereogram algorithm, or more commonly, 3-D. It's so cool! When you first see the picture it often looks like just a blob of shapes and colors...
or sometimes you can see things in the picture, like this one:
If you fix your concentrated gaze on it deep enough you will see the 3-D effect. In other words, there is much more than first meets the eye. You must look deeper to see the real or the whole picture. (www.magiceye.com)I've often thought of this about many spiritual things, like reading our scriptures. When you first start reading it's often very hard and things aren't easy to understand. But the more you try to read and as you pray for understanding, the Lord opens it up...it just suddenly appears like a magic eye picture.
Thankfully the Lord looks on the heart. If we weren't so mortal, we could more easily see into the hearts of others. Sometimes a person may do something that appears totally different, or is taken totally different than what their heart had intended. It really is a rough job being mortal. We are constantly making mistakes. Thank goodness for the Atonement. I know it's all part of the plan. But it's so important to ponder upon this topic so that we can more clearly see the 3-D plan that the Lord has in store. It involves all the virtues the Lord wants us to develop: charity, patience, faith, hope, repentance, forgiveness, mercy, obedience...to name a few.
The best place to start, really, is within ourselves. Joseph Smith said, "...until our heart is pure, we cannot correctly judge another." I've often thought of how thankful I will be on the Judgment Day to have a merciful and loving judge in our Savior. His judgments will be just and true, but also merciful. He will understand the pure intentions of our hearts.
Think about this: "Satan condemns. Christ saves." Do we sometimes find ourselves following Satan's plan inadvertently by not giving someone the benefit of the doubt, or by looking below the surface to see the true matter of things?" The devil flatters us that we are very righteous when we are feeding off the faults of others.
The same goes with religious beliefs. Our church has been in the news quite a bit lately and much of it has been pretty negative. That kind of hurts. But do we find ourselves condemning and criticizing those who are doing that to us, or of others for their beliefs?
Elder Earl C. Tingey said, "We should not be judgmental of others who do not believe or practice as we should. Tolerance and humility, in a personal sense, are true attributes of a follower of Christ."
In Zechariah 7:9 it tells us that TRUE judgment is MERCY and COMPASSION. Now that's a great rule of thumb to go by! "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, running over...for with the same measure that ye mete...it shall be measured to you again." (Luke 6:38)
I love this quote by Harold B. Lee:
"Men may be tested by status or lack of it, wealth or poverty. In some ways beauty may be a greater challenge than ugliness. Life is sufficiently complex to test and try every man. It matters little whether the test is met in the gilded halls of the palace or the sweltering mud hut in the desert. God is no respecter of persons. What a person is, rather than who he is, will be the determining factor in the judgment."
The Lord has never left us without a way, without perfect instructions on how to do something, especially something He asks of us. Moroni included perfectly clear instructions concerning judgments before he finished the Book of Mormon, in Chapter 7. Starting in verse 5 he tells us, "by their works ye shall know them..." and down to verse 12 "all things which are good cometh of God, and that which is evil cometh of the devil...that which is good inviteth and enticeth to do good continually...it is given unto you to judge that ye may know the good from the evil, and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark..." And to summarize, Moroni tells us that everyone is given the light of Christ to know good from evil. And that if we lay hold upon every good thing we will be worthy to be called the Children of Christ. In other words, we will have a pure heart for pure judgments.
It is important to choose good friends to associate with. It's important to be accepting of others and to look for good and not the more easily discernible faults. As we do this we become a good example and exemplify what we need to become, more like the Savior.
We can judge and choose righteousness in the things we choose to say, do, wear, read, and watch? Does it inspire? Does it uplift? Does it purify? Does it lead us to do good?
1 Corinthians 6:2 "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?"
Alma 41:14, 15 "Therefore, my son, see that you are merciful unto your brethren; deal justly, judge righteously, and do good continually; and if ye do all these things then shall ye receive your reward; yea, ye shall have mercy restored unto you again; ye shall have justice restored unto you again; ye shall have a righteous judgment restored unto you again; and ye shall have good rewarded unto you again. For that which ye do send out shall return unto you again, and be restored; therefore, the word restoration more fully condemneth the sinner, and justifieth him not at all."
Like I said, it's the Queen's Court!
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