DO UNTO OTHERS...
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
- Matthew 7:12 (NIV)
“The Golden Rule” is one of the most quoted or paraphrased verses in all of scripture. Most of us have heard it since childhood, whether we were church-going folk or not. But how have you typically thought of that verse, or even used it with your children? I realized one day that, at least for me, I have mostly thought of it in the negative sense. “Don’t do to others what you don’t want them to do to you.” If you don’t want other people to hit you, don’t hit them. Don’t want others to lie to you? Don’t lie to them. And of course that’s right. It’s another thing though, and actually more in line with what Jesus actually says here, to apply it in the positive.
This morning I while I was praying I was reflecting on how good God is, I was specifically thanking him for so many good relationships and roles he has given me. And it struck me that many of the roles that I’ve been granted and charged to be, I have never had. I didn’t grow up with my father, and so had no direct example of how to be one, nor how to be a husband. But now I have this amazing opportunity to be for my daughters what I never had, both a loving, present father, as well as (hopefully) a good example of a husband. I have never really had a mentor in my life, yet in this season I get to mentor a couple of younger brothers in our community. These are things I have always wanted and longed for, and that I see the effects of their lack in my life. And yet the Lord has given me these wonderful gifts of responsibility, to bumble through, guided only by HIS Spirit and example. It’s the opportunity to do for others what I would like others to do and to be for me.
It’s so often tempting or at least easy to repeat the patterns we have known (or not known, rather). We’re tempted to think, “I never had that, so why should I be that for someone else?” We don’t realize, even those of us who grew up with it all our lives, just how revolutionary and life-giving the “Golden Rule” really is.
And so this becomes a really great guide as to how to serve and love others around us. Even in our lack, or our wounding, or the critiques we have of how others could serve us better, we can look and ask, “what do I wish other people would do for me? That’s exactly how I can best serve and love others.”
And this becomes the very presence and the healing of Heaven, when we bless those we wished were blessing us, when we love others we wish were more loving to us. We are sometimes guided by example, sometimes by lack. Be for others what you wish others were for you. In that way we really do get the absolute joy of being the presence of Heaven in the world around us. This is so hard, and it can feel foolish to do things you may never have really seen modeled. But remember Jesus says, “Surely I am with you, even to the end of the age.”
It’s amazing how the Lord works healing in us as we follow in meeting the needs of others. Like some strange power that can only be fully received when it’s released. What are you called to be or do for someone else, whether you have received it or not? Are there places of your pain where you can be hands of healing for another, and in turn, receive it yourself?
