GOD’S GENEROSITY EXTENDS TO ALL WHO SEEK HIM WITH FAITH
In James 1:5, we read that God gives wisdom to all men liberally who seek in faith. That designation of “all men” includes non-Mormons (much to some Mormons’ disbelief), but it also works the other way with equal truth. In other words, despite some non-Mormon’s rancor and hatefulness toward Mormons in particular, God gives wisdom to all men—including Mormons. He doesn’t upbraid either the Mormons or the non-Mormons, neither the Christians nor the non-Christians, neither the Muslim nor the Hindu nor the Buddhist. None. He upbraids (scolds, chastises, straightens) none of them when they come to Him seeking wisdom.
All He asks of any who come to Him is that they do it with faith, nothing wavering. It matters not what their religious persuasion is.
And the God that I relate to most wholeheartedly is the God who revealed Himself to us in the guise of one of us, though He was so much more. Of course I am referring to Jesus Christ. In His coming into our world, He brought with Him a new way of relating to God—as Emmanuel (God with us). He brought with Him a new way of relating to each other also, as He set forth in all His words and deeds, but which is most succinctly summed up in what is called “The Beatitudes.”
It is such a fascinating, double-edged reality that of all the scriptures God could have impressed Joseph Smith with and sent him into the woods that early spring day of 1820 to act upon, to act out into this world, it would have been James 1:5. It tells all of us that God has nothing to do with this one-ups-man-ship that we play toward each other—no matter what form our spiritual or even religious life takes.
Leave a Reply