Thursday, April 14, 2005

To Thine Own...Enemy...Be True


The Practical Mormon has discovered the secret of life -- or at least the secret of virtue. It occurs to us that only one thing differentiates good from evil.

And it's NOT the number of home teaching visits, the volume of prayer, or the quality of the fast. It's not the number of balls I toss with my kid, the number of hugs I apportion to my spouse, or the quality of our family home evening treats.

Two men may profess identical ethics and values, but the good man will apply his rules of conduct at all times to all people, while his lesser brother will apply those rules only when it is convenient, and only to those he considers worthy.

The measure of virtue, then, is the degree to which a man bears his enemy as he bears his friend.

"Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus..."
--Paul, Philippians 2:2-5