20 And these things doth the Spirit manifest unto me; therefore I write unto you all. And for this cause I write unto you, that ye may know that ye must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, yea, every soul who belongs to the whole human family of Adam; and ye must stand to be judged of your works, whether they be good or evil;…
22 And I would that I could persuade all ye ends of the earth to repent and prepare to stand before the judgment-seat of Christ.
(Mormon 3:20, 22)
The apostle Paul urged members of the church to avoid judging each other and focus instead on preparing for the judgment we will one day receive from the Savior:
But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.
(Romans 14:10-13)
In the Book of Mormon passage above, the prophet Mormon similarly encourages us to prepare for the day when we will stand before the Savior. At that time, nothing will matter more to us than what He thinks of us. As the prophet Isaiah taught in a passage quoted by Paul above, “every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear” (Isaiah 45:23). There will be no confusion about His divinity at that time. The question will no longer be what we think of Him but what He thinks of us.
Elder Neil L. Anderson has taught:
Even with His love for all mankind, Jesus reprovingly referred to some around Him as hypocrites, fools, and workers of iniquity. He approvingly called others children of the kingdom and the light of the world. He disapprovingly referred to some as blinded and unfruitful. He commended others as pure in heart and hungering after righteousness. He lamented that some were faithless and of the world, but others He esteemed as chosen, disciples, friends. And so we each ask, “What thinks Christ of me?” (“What Thinks Christ of Me?” General Conference, April 2012)
Today, I will ask myself if the Savior would be pleased with my actions, my desires, and my attitudes. I will prepare to stand before His judgment seat by making decisions today which He would approve of and by repenting promptly when I fall short of that ideal.
I was impressed as I read in 2 Nephi 21:2-4 that our Savior is not swayed by rumours or wrong visual impressions. He can see us clearly. It would be great if the world could see that way. But since that doesn’t happen, what a relief that our Savior with judge with wisdom, understanding and righteousness.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; 3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears. 4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
Thanks for your blog.
Hope all is well with you and your family.
Love, Mom
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That’s a good point, and I like the tie-in with 2 Nephi 21 / Isaiah 11. That’s one great advantage of focusing on the Savior’s opinion of our actions: He will judge us accurately. We don’t have to worry about being misunderstood. Thanks for the comment, and have a great day!