Day 134: The Golden Rule

Matthew 6:31

And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

Many of us grew up hearing statements like, “Treat others the way you want to be treated.” “Give respect to get respect.” “You give what you get.” The very morals that we grew up on, the rules we were raised by are found in the scriptures that we live by. We grew up with a common knowledge on how to treat people, and it’s simply to treat them as we want to be treated. Do to others what you wish for them to do to you. My mom would always tell us to give respect if we want respect. We were to respect everyone, even our peers. That was an issue I had when I was younger because I grew up with strict parents and my mom was all about us being respectful children and having good manners. So when we came against an adult who felt they did not need to respect us because we were children problems would arise. In their eyes, I was not worthy of respect because I was a kid that they did not have to respect but I was required to give them respect. I did not agree with or like that theory. I began to say, ‘If you don’t respect me, I don’t have to respect you’ which brings me to my next point.  

You get what you give, this statement is true when it comes to relationships between humanity, however, it’s not so true when it comes to our relationship with God, He’s done way more for us than we could ever do for Him or ourselves. But that’s another topic for another day. Back on track now.

As we progress throughout our lives we will quickly learn that you get out of life what you give. You put in an application, you get a job, you work hard, you receive the benefits, you seek you receive, you give respect you get respect. When we treat people unkind and unloving there’s a chance that we will be treated the exact same way. We cannot walk around demanding respect from others but we do not give it. That is not how it works, we treat people the way we want to be treated, we do not get to pick and choose who gets treated with respect and who doesn’t. It is everyone’s human right to be respected and loved. How we treat others sets the bar on how we will be treated ourselves, but also creates a chain reaction as to how others will be treated.

We must lead by example. What I mean by that is taking the first step by being nice to someone. Not everyone we meet is going to like us, not everyone we come across will know what respect or love is. It is our job and Christ followers to show them what is to love and treat others with respect. We cannot wait for people to treat us well we have to start. If Jesus waited until everyone respected and loved Him to come and save humanity, we wouldn’t be saved. We have to make the first move, whether people treat us with respect or not we still have to treat them the way we want to be treated. We have to handle people as if we were handling ourselves. We all love ourselves enough to respect ourselves. If you don’t drop me an email so we can talk. How we treat, view, and love others is a reflection of how we treat, view, and love ourselves. We all have standards of what we will allow and what we won’t. We all have lines that we draw that people are not allowed to cross. We have a basic understanding of how we should be treated, about how we expect to be treated by our peers. What if we take all those standards, those lines that are not to be crossed, that basic understanding of how we are to be treated; what if we take that and apply to how we treat others? What if we did that? How would it change the way we treated people? I do not think the goal is to treat others with respect just to get it in return. The goal is just to treat people well. Put them in our shoes and treat them the way we expect to be treated. It’s not about what we get out of it but more about how we radiate the love of Christ.

Reflection

1. Take a look at all the standards you have set for yourself and how you expect others to treat you. Write them down if you will.
2. Compared to your answer above, do you treat others in the same respect by the same standards?
3. If you truly treated others how you expect or want to be treated, How would it change the way you treat others?

Prayer Time

Talk to God about treating others well, ask Him to help you live more like Him and treat others with the same standards and respects to want to be treated with.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Share this with someone and be sure to come back tomorrow for Day 135!