Them

[ The Golden Rule ] “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets. Matthew7:12NLT

It can easily come down to a choice of ‘them’ or ‘us’ when we try to figure out where society stands on various things, but it is most obvious when we talk about ethical, or moral, and certainly faith and religious beliefs. You know how it goes. We believe this, but they believe that. They interpret the Bible that way, but we know better because we interpret it this way. See where I am coming from? Perhaps you have encountered it yourself?

If each of us treated others just the same way we would want to be treated, this would be a better world. The importance of how we deal with those who disagree with us on religious beliefs and faith cannot be overstated. If we want to be Christ-Like, there should be no finger waving or pointing. Did you or I come into the Kingdom, or see the way ahead by being shouted at, or vehemently disagreed with? Certainly not. To put it into old fashioned language, we were woo’d, softly, gently, but with the determination of a loving God. We should do the same to others.

The phrase by Mrs “Do as you would be done by” is as true now as it ever was when introduced by “The Water Babies”, and much better than her counterpart, Mrs “Be done by as you did”. The secular world recognises who they prefer, and it follows that this Golden Rule spoken by Jesus is just what we ALL need, whether IN the church or OUT. This is as much a word of challenge for me as for anyone else.