The Golden Rule

"So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." - Matthew 7:12

 

One thing this passage does not say is that you should do to others what they do to you.  It might seem at a rough glance that this is exactly what is being said, but not if we look closely.

 

An example:  A friend hits you in the face, knocking you down, and steals your wallet.  Should you do the same to him before he can hit you?  Apart from the obvious problem of not knowing what others are going to do to you in advance, it is easy to see that this is how violence escalates and society crumbles.  What if everyone started harming others and taking what they wanted because they expected others to do the same to them?

 

The Golden rule says to do to others what you want others to do to you.  If you want gifts given to you then you should give to others first.  If you want others to speak nicely to you, you should be aware of your words toward them first, ensuring that you speak positively.

 

If you were ignorant of the truth, would you want others to share with you the good news of everlasting life through the Lord Jesus Christ?  Well then...

Compartment Syndrome

Compartment syndrome is a blood circulation problem where the part of the body (compartment) affected has severely reduced circulation, potentially leading to the death of that part.  Depending how we look at it, this can provide a positive and a negative analogy for the Christian faith.

 

Negatively: If we compartmentalise our faith, reducing it to influencing only one part of our life, then it is likely to die.  A doomed faith.  This is because our faith must be applied in all of our life, and there is a certain feedback from the faith-life interaction which stimulates our faith to grow further.  Real life provides challenges to our faith which will make that faith stronger when we face them head on: questions of doctrine and evolution, difficult circumstances, happy times when we rely less on God for help...

 

Positively: If we cut off the circulation to the parts of our life which don't fit in with our faith, the parts which are sinful, sinful, sinful - then we can kill them off.  Remove the sinful bits by starving them of fuel.  Plucking out our eyes which cause us to sin (metaphorically) by not setting any evil thing before us to view.

 

On an ever-so-slightly related note, you should check out the audio resources of one of the greatest preachers of the only great God: Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones 

See if you can guess the link between the good Doctor and the rest of this post!  Answers in the comments.

Should you be surprised at the depravity of the world?

As a spiritual Christian, no, you shouldn't.  But why not?  Here are two good reasons:

 

Firstly, because the bible is clear that mankind is fallen and corrupt.  Our evil natures are illustrated over and over again in scripture.  If you are familiar with even a few of the vile deeds recorded from history via God's word, it should come as no surprise when you see it today.

 

Second, because you should know yourself.  Your dark self.  You have come from depravity and into the light.  If you don't think you are (or have been) capable of such depths of depravity as you witness in the world, then you haven't reflected on your sin nature, your old self, as much as you should have.  

 

Now, that is not to say that you will not be offended and shocked in a sense.  Your walk with God sees you moving further and further away from your old life and closer and closer to the beauty of Christ.  When cold, dark reality appears and sucks away the warmth of your contemplation of Christ, it will be like cold water on your face.

 

And, lest you believe yourself better than others who seem more sinful, it always does good to remember that: "but for the grace of God, that would be you."  

 

Knowing versus Applying

Anyone can "know" the facts.  The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience...

Anyone can speak the gospel.  Jesus died on the cross for the sin of the world; trust in him to take the punishment for you and turn from sin...

Anyone can quote the bible.  "God is love"

 

But not everyone can believe this knowledge in their heart and live it.  It's just not "real" to everyone and it just doesn't matter enough to everyone.  These people might even try to apply this knowledge but they just can't because they lack the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

Thank God if you are saved and pray earnestly for those who are not.

 

Do you aim to please people or God?

Or maybe a bit of both, but where you start (pleasing God before people or people before God) is important.  When it comes right down to it, if you will bow to the expectations of other people instead of doing what you know will please God, that's really bad.  It's not a good sign for you and it is doubtful that you are really a Christian.

 

It's good to want to please people, to serve them, to help them.  But what if they want you to do something bad?  Fit into the crowd, go along with the church leaders on pressure tactics for tithing strategy, buy some alcohol for underage drinkers, share that juicy piece of gossip, watch that dodgy TV show...  These things are not pleasing to God and you are compromising your witness to unbelievers by associating with them.

 

If you start your day praying something like the words below, you will have God behind you and you will be reminded of your number one priority for the day: Glorify your Saviour and Maker.  But remember that the fallen human is tricky too.  Check your motives because you might just try to get people against you so that a different group of people will see you being "persecuted" for the faith.  This is a different side of people pleasing which is just as evil.  Your motivation for any people pleasing should be love, and in this you will be pleasing God (if you love Him first).

 

"Lord, help me to keep my mind on you and your will.  Help me to please you this day by walking in your ways.  May my walk be a witness to your Glory and may I catch myself if I act to please people in a way that compromises my main purpose of sharing your glory.  Help me to believe that this is important and not just pray it so that I can say I prayed it.  Amen"

 

Before and After: There will be obvious change

Someone loses a heap of weight, someone else begins a new exercise regime, another goes into rehab for drug and alcohol abuse.  These are all good changes to make in your life but they don't guarantee a spiritual change that comes with salvation.

 

Don't get me wrong, there will be obvious change.  The things I've mentioned above may be a part of that, symptoms if you like, but the change is not the individual actions so much as the attitude that leads to continual change for the better in the spiritual person's life.  

 

A percentage of people who pick up a self-help book will change as I described above.  The Christian difference is that it is not self-help, it is God-help.  He initiates it, He sustains it, He makes it happen and go on happening until you die or Jesus returns.

 

The obvious change will always include love.  And not the selfish love that is prevalent in single adults who sacrifice all of the great blessings of God to shape themselves after the latest self-help guru.  Spiritual love will embrace God's blessings (which often come as challenges) and will sacrifice selfishness to be changed by the Spirit.

 

Look for it and you will see it.  If it's not where you look, it is doubtful that the Spirit (and salvation) is present...

 

Appreciate your suffering and trials

It's clear that the Christian will encounter difficult times in his or her life.  How we face these times, our attitude, is vital.

 

One person will shrink back, reluctant to feel the pain, or reluctant to be challenged in an uncomfortable manner.  Some trials involve the revealing of personal sin or character defects.  Nobody wants to face these really.  This sort of pain is far worse than physical suffering, which is why it is harder to submit to.

 

Another person will realise that such exposure is unavoidable - God sees all of your defects anyway.  This person will not only realise this obvious truth, but they will also embrace it, and the pain in confronting them self, so that they might overcome their flaws and grow to be a better person in Christ.  They will also approach trials and suffering as a chance to learn more about them self, again opening to see the reality about them self.

 

The Christian's path is always upward.  They don't seek pain and suffering for fun, but they do hope to change for the better every day, bringing glory to their Saviour.