03/26/2024
What is it about The Golden Rule, and God's Law of Love that make them so hard for us to adhere to in certain situations? Perhaps we have forgotten what makes them so precious, or maybe they have faded in our memories. Just in case we might be unfamiliar, confused, or have forgotten what these rules are comprised of let’s revisit them by taking a refresher course this morning (I need one myself from time to time)... love is like all things, we must practice it if we are to keep it fresh in our lives.
The Golden Rule:
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”
Matthew 7:12 KJV
God's Law of Love:
“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Matthew 22:37-40 KJV
As we have read in the scripture from Matthew, these two loves are tied very closely to one another... Loving God, and Loving Our Neighbor. So how do we fold them together into our everyday lives and seamlessly live them? In my devotional reading today the author helped explain this to us by quoting a wonderful passage from Micah in the Old Testament:
“He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”
Micah 6:8 KJV
Walking humbly with God will allow us to love both God and man in their proper order and way. We follow After God and His Word, but when it comes to man we should (as saints) assume the lead in justice and love. Are we doing this faithfully in our lives?
“And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:”
Deuteronomy 28:13 KJV
We all understand what it means to be subject to God, but sometimes we take our desire to live humbly to such an extreme with men that we lose sight of the fact that we are supposed to be God's emissaries and the tools by which the gospel is delivered. We are meant to tell, and then to lead others into it.
I have been in group settings before where a member of the group was clearly not a Christian. It was interesting that some of my Christian friends moved away from him... Recoiling if you will. Asked later why they reacted in this way they would meekly say things like "I couldn't tolerate that language" or some other such holier than thou excuse. If we all treated people this way we would be limiting our witness, and only providing instruction to those who were already saved. Isn't it interesting that Jesus dined with sinners? He was treating those unbelieving neighbors as he would have liked to have been treated himself. I am glad my family and friends found my sinful ways worth putting up with until they could save my soul. They delivered to me the same message they were thankful for having received themselves, and that message is this... Jesus loves me.
I guess that what I am saying today is that it is easy to treat your church neighbors like you would want them to treat you, but the real goal, and challenge, is to be like Jesus and treat the blatant sinners we encounter in the same way we would want them, and others, to treat us. In this way we will change the lives of these unbelievers who the Lord brings us into contact with. We will lead them into faith and belief by revealing a glimpse of Christ in ourselves, and then, we will show them how we are meant to reflect Him in our everyday lives. We will lead those who need Him most into believing. Isn’t this what is at the heart of what makes up the rule golden? Isn’t this what blesses us most, and makes this rule to be Golden?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for giving us commandments and rules concerning loving you, and our neighbors. Thank you for teaching us to not only love our families and friends, but strangers in our lives, and our enemies as well. Open our hearts Lord as we walk down the streets of the world and come into contact with the walking dead who are wandering there in chosen disbelieve, or who don’t even know who you are. Give us courage, and prepare us in our faith, so that we might speak salvation into these lost souls by our behavior, word, and the radiant glow of you in our lives. Holy, Holy, Holy are you our God, and how encouraging we find you as you love us, and pour your grace into us as if we were precious vessels of gold. Help us to share the love and grace that fills us like it fills Jesus, teach us to dine with sinners, and speak the good news of Jesus Christ to the lost. Praised be your Holy Name Father as we watch the miracles of healing and salvation that you give out so freely to the sick, lost, and brokenhearted. In your love we find the source of our own, and in witnessing your mercy we learn to be merciful. What greater love and mercy can we show another than through the transformation we find in your Son Jesus Christ? What greater grace can we receive than to open our hearts and pour out that selfsame grace over all those around us? In this Holy week when we prepare to receive your risen Son, we ask that you reveal the full power and glory of His life, death, and resurrection to us, and to guide us as we share this good news with all the world.
Amen, Amen, Amen
Rich Forbes