The Rubik's Cube of Goodness

This morning, as I watched my wife solve a Rubik's Cube, it occurred to me that the orange side looked truly chaotic, even though she'd been working on the cube for a few minutes. Then, I laughed at myself.

She was solving the red side first.

This is a great metaphor for the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are many principles that we must learn and obey, but we don't always do them in the same order. For example, the first principle of the gospel is always faith in Jesus Christ, but my faith may be different than someone else's faith. I may have unbounded faith that He will give me personal revelation when I need it, but I might not really believe, with my whole heart, that He loves me.

One reason the Lord is so merciful is that many of us are improving our relationship with Him, but only one step at a time. One person is perfectly honest but sometimes uncaring; another is full of compassion but doesn't see the need for priesthood authority. Line upon line, precept upon precept, grace for grace.

Of course, being perfectly honest without charity would be like having a "fake" solved side, when it appears to be solved, but the pieces actually need to be rearranged to align with the adjacent sides. "Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail--but charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever."