Do Good Continually

I love these words of Alma to his son Corianton: “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” (Alma 41:14-15). Those are words to try to live by in how we treat and interact with others. If we are merciful, just, judge righteously, and do good to others then all of this will eventually come back and bless us. Whatever treatment we send out to others will return unto us in how the Lord and others will reward us. President Nelson encouraged us recently to show this kind of treatment to others when he said, “Please listen carefully. “If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy” that we can say about another person—whether to his face or behind her back—that should be our standard of communication.” The 13^th article of faith should be our standard of how we speak about others and these words of Alma should be what we strive for in our interactions with all those around us. The Savior put it most powerfully when He said, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:44-45).

                And so we should strive to be like our Father in Heaven and His Son who indeed love even those who are evil and give at least some blessings—like the rain—to those who do not good. The other day in the car I put on the CD Scripture Scouts in the car, and they mentioned how Jesus had even healed a “bad guy” (Malchus) who got his ear cut off. A little while later my son asked me this question, “Daddy, does Jesus help the bad guys?” It took me a minute to connect his question with what we had heard on the song, but then I realized he was really asking about what he heard in this story of Jesus healing the ear of a “bad guy”. I confirmed that yes, Jesus will even help the bad guys (but that He won’t help them to do bad things). President Nelson encouraged us, “in situations that are highly charged and filled with contention, I invite you to remember Jesus Christ.” Surely this story is one that we would do well to remember as we deal with challenging individuals or situations: “And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him” (Luke 22:50-51). If Jesus could so magnificently heal a man coming to arrest Him, surely we can treat with kindness and love even those who seem to be our enemy. We can even “help the bad guys” in our lives by showing the kind of compassion and love that He did to Malchus and so many others. As we strive to thus show mercy and “do good continually” as Alma encouraged his son, we will be truly remembering the Savior. And He will likewise remember us in mercy when we are to be judged before Him.