#7 Living Out Luke 6:31

Luke 6:31

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

Many of you probably know this as "The Golden Rule." This summer when I first introduced this verse to the kids, that is exactly what they referred to it as. This little saying has found its way into the schools where the Bible and God are supposedly not allowed. Of course, Scripture is not prohibited from the school system, but many times people become uncomfortable with the idea of Biblical texts being found in a school. Anyways, despite all of that, many teachers still teach their students "The Golden Rule" in hopes that they will take this message to heart and treat others well.

So why is it that so many know this one verse of Scripture and teach others to follow this commandment? At times it could be for selfish reasons; in fact this verse is often misquoted. People want others to treat them right. They do not want to endure the brunt of someone's attacks, and so they quote this verse hoping that that person will change their actions. At other times people use this verse as excuse to hurt someone who has hurt them. They think that if that person treats me badly, then they must want to be treated wrong as well.

But this is not what the verse means or how we should interpret it. This verse does not give us an excuse to hurt others. Instead of looking at someone else's actions, we should look at our own. Instead of treating someone based on their actions, we should treat them based on Jesus' actions. We know how Jesus would act and how He would treat others, so we need to mimic His actions so that we can become more like Him.

This commandment is one that we hear all the time, but as I said, we many times selfishly misinterpret it. Remember that you would not want to be hurt by others; therefore, you should not hurt others. This is such a basic idea, and it seems so easy. But if you think of how you act throughout any given day you might just find that it was one of the hardest commandments to keep in life. So make it a point today to live out "The Golden Rule."

Matt