-- Saturday, 8/6/11 -- THE GOLDEN RULE - Matthew 7:12
J.R. & Bonnie Ricks
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THE GOLDEN RULE – Matthew 7:12
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
A number of other religions – and quite a few individuals – state the “golden rule” this way… “Don’t do anything to someone else that you don’t want done to you.” Technically, that’s a pretty easy “golden rule” to live with. It’s not all that difficult to refrain from physically or mentally or emotionally injuring someone else. In fact, most of us – even when we’re operating in “revenge mode” – have a hard time when comes right down to deliberately hurting someone else. Although we have a sin nature, we also have a definite leaning towards avoiding hurting other people… at least, seriously hurting them. Not every life is just one John Wayne barroom fight after another!
But just as it is with everything else Jesus has told us, He gave us a much deeper meaning to something that – on the surface – appears to be easy and simple to accomplish. Going His one step further, Jesus did not state this verse that we call the “Golden Rule” in the negative way that the rest of the world does. Instead, just as He did throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus showed us the “spirit” of the Golden Rule rather than its “letter”, telling us to treat people the way we want to be treated. By giving a positive spin to the world’s version of this principle, He challenged us in one more way to be more like Him… which is NOT an easy thing to do. In fact, it would be nearly impossible if we were operating solely on our own power without the Holy Spirit.
For instance, if someone’s hurt you in some way, it’s not all that difficult to refrain from slugging the person with your full fist. But it’s an altogether different thing to try to actually bless the person who has hurt you. With this statement, Jesus is reiterating what He said in Matthew 5:43-48, when He told us to give God’s perfect love to everyone, especially our enemies.
As the song says, taking the easy way is not the easy way. It’s not easy to turn the other cheek. It’s not easy to love the unlovable. It’s not easy to bless the people who hurt us. But if we’re going to follow Jesus… if we’re going to call ourselves believers… if we love Him, then we have to follow what He tells us to do. As Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”
Do you love Him? Do you show that love with everything you think and do and say? Is the Golden Rule an intrinsic part of the way you live?
Think about it.
All Bible quotes contained in these devotionals are from the New International Version 1984 (NIV1984), unless otherwise specified.
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