Respect and Blessings

As part of the lesson I'm teaching on Sunday, I'm going to address the fact that "God is no respecter of persons" (Acts 10:34), and I'm going to start a discussion on what that means and what that doesn't mean. It doesn't mean that He doesn't respect anyone, and it certainly doesn't mean that He treats everyone the same. It means that He treats everyone fairly, if not generously. God is often, though not always, more than fair with His children, but He is always at least fair with them. He never cheats any of us out of what we deserve. Even the parts of mortality that seem most unfair, like the circumstances of one's birth, will be made fair through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We all have the opportunity to achieve our eternal potential. Blessings come, in this life and the next, to those who try to do so. So, God blesses different people in different ways, and He blesses some people more than others, at least at first, but God makes sure that, by the end of the Final Judgment, everyone will get what they deserve, if not better. No one is getting the short end of the stick here. God doesn't show preferential treatment, at least not in the long run. As I said recently, anyone can be redeemed and reach our full potential. However, it is our choices, not our circumstances, that determine whether we live up to that potential. It's not luck or favoritism; it's our choice.