Kermit
the frog is famous not only for talking but for some of the things he said. For
instance, "If life were easy, it wouldn’t be difficult." My favorite
is the twist he put on the old adage, "Time flies when you’re having
fun." Kermit twisted that to say, "Time’s fun when you’re having
flies." Now consider a more serious kind of saying and a dangerous kind of
twist. One of Jesus’ most famous sayings, long known as "The Golden
Rule," is found in Matthew 7:12 – "Therefore, whatever you
want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the
Prophets." The word "golden" is sometimes used to mean
"superb, of the highest degree of excellence." The Golden Rule is
still golden! It has a most excellent influence on human relationships. More on
that in a moment. Sadly, men and women twist the Golden Rule. The oldest and
most cynical twist on the Lord’s words says, "Do unto others before they
do unto you." In one online article I read where a man stated explicitly
that the Golden Rule does not work in love relationships (or other
relationships, either). Instead of the Golden Rule, he suggested lovers use
what he called "The Platinum Rule" which, he said, states that we
should do unto others as they would like to be done unto. Somebody else put
this twist on the Golden Rule – "Whoever has the gold rules."
Now
back to why the Golden Rule is so-called. Simply stated it embodies the highest
principle of ethical conduct and behavior ever uttered. When honored, it
eliminates the pathologies that plague our nation – hatred, prejudice, enmity,
crime and greed. It promotes love, peace, patience, kindness, and the practice
of common courtesies and manners. It fosters a forgiving attitude. It simply
has a superb effect on human relationships when truly and widely practiced. The
Golden Rule is almost universally praised. But like so many of the Lord’s
words, men and women have shown much more willingness to praise the teaching
that practice it. The reason why is clear. It calls us to be proactive, not
reactive. I am to "do [also] to them" what I want them to do to me,
not "do to them WHAT they do to me." Cain would never have wanted
Abel to murder him, but he killed Abel anyway (Genesis 4). Judas would never
have wanted Jesus or anyone else to betray him, but he walked right up to the
Lord and betrayed Him with a kiss (Luke 22:48). We want others to
forgive us, but sometimes we are slow to forgive. We want others to be truthful
with us, but are we always straight up with them? Our tendency is to be
reactionary. If someone is kind to us, we may (or may not) be kind to them. But
if they are unkind to us, why should we continue to be kind to them? When
people push on us, why not push back? If someone takes an eye, we sometimes end
up taking an eye and an ear or maybe more. We are directed by God’s Spirit,
"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse" (Romans
12:14) – and just three verses later at verse 17 we read,
"Repay no one evil for evil." When our reaction to bad treatment by
others is based on feelings and emotions alone, we are on dangerous ground. We
turn control of our attitude and conduct over to them, and convince ourselves
our own bad behavior is their fault. But what if, just what if, we all treated
others – in every relationship and in every situation – the way we want to be
treated? Whether the other person changed or not, we would be changed to be
more like Christ – and that ALWAYS makes the world a better place.
That’s why it’s called the "Golden Rule!"
by:
Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN
Bible
commentator William Barclay wrote about a young woman named Edith who was very
self- centered – "Edith lived in a little world, bound on the north,
south, east, and west by Edith." I don’t agree with everything Barlcay
wrote in his commentaries, but he very often had, as we say, "a way with
words." In those few words about Edith he reminded us why
self-centeredness and selfish living is such an awful thing. If we leave
self-centered tendencies and habits in our lives unchecked, we not only
inadvertently shrink the world we live in down to a little bitty thing, but we
shrink ourselves as human beings and make our lives much smaller than God
created us to be. The Bible collides head-on with worldly think- ing about
"self." Philippians 2:3b urges "with humility of mind let
each one regard one another as more important than himself" (New American
Standard Bible). But the evidence is everywhere that most people don’t live
that way. We like to look at ourselves, hear ourselves, express ourselves, talk
about ourselves, display ourselves, promote ourselves, post about ourselves,
and seek to fulfill ourselves. In short, millions now live in a little world
bounded on the north, south, east, and west by themselves. Consider this
article by an unknown source entitled "How To Be Miserable" –
"Think about yourself. Talk about yourself. Use ‘I’ as often as possible.
Listen greedily to what people say about you. Expect to be appreciated. Be
suspicious, jealous and envious. Be sensitive to slights. Never forgive a
criticism. Insist on consideration and respect. Demand agreement with your own
views on everything. Sulk if people are not grateful for favors shown them.
Never forget a service you have rendered. Shirk duties if you can. Do as little
as possible for others."
In
Matthew 16:24-26 Jesus Christ issues this counter-cultural call –
"If anyone desires to come after Me, let Him deny himself, and take up His
cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man
if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Of what will a man give in
exchange for his soul?" Those words are not hard to understand, but are
very difficult to obey. To deny one’s self is more difficult than pulling up a
dandelion by the root. It means a lot more than giving up something like
chocolate for a week or not spending six hours a day watching TV or on
Facebook. Barclay, quoted above, wrote, "To deny oneself means to
obliterate self as the dominant principle of life, and to make God the ruling
principle, more, the ruling passion of life." This is not the way worldly
people live, and sadly, it is not the way many professed followers of Jesus
live. The great screen star of days gone by, Katherine Hepburn once observed,
"If you always do what interests you, at least one person is
pleased." That thinking is pervasive in our "me-first ... I’m worth
it" culture. But the Spirit of God calls us to swim against the strong
current of selfishness – "Let each of us please his neighbor for his good,
leading to edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is
written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me’ " (Romans
15:2-3). Here is the great challenge of the Christian life. If you want to
live in a little world, make life be all about you. But if you want a bigger
and better world for yourself (and others) you must deny yourself! So said
Jesus – history’s supreme expert and example on denying selfishness and taking
up a cross. Now, will you do with your self?
by: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN
The
power of hope defines the psychological victim and psychological survivor. If I
could find a way to package and dispense hope, I would have a pill more
powerful than any antidepressant on the market. Hope is often the only thing
between man and the abyss. As long as a patient, individual or victim has hope,
they can recover from anything and everything." Those words sound like
they were written by a Christian preacher. But they weren’t. They were written
by Dale Archer, M.D. in an online blog @ psychologytoday.com. The title of the
piece was "The Power of Hope," posted, July 31, 2013. The doctor goes
on to say, "However, if they lose hope, unless you can help them get it
back, all is lost." I don’t know if Dr. Archer is a Christian. What I know
is that the New Testament and the church described in its pages are unrivaled
when it comes to hope and the power that comes packaged with it! The apostle
Paul referred to God as "the God of hope" who can "fill you with
all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the
Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13). We are saved in hope that we cannot
yet see, even as "we eagerly wait for it with perseverance" (8:24-25).
The apostle Peter describes the Christian hope as "a living hope,"
grounded not on a wish or hunch or luck, but in the bedrock reality that Jesus
Christ was raised from the dead and walked out of His tomb (1 Peter 1:3)!
Hope is "laid up for you in heaven," and we hear about this laid-up
hope "in the word of the truth of the gospel" (Colossians 1:5).
The Hebrews writer taught Christians to "lay hold of the hope set
before us," and that, "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil" (Hebrews
6:18b-19). The hope the gospel brings to our hearts anchors our souls in
Heaven even as our ship is battered and tossed about by earthly winds and
storms that beat into our souls here on earth. Edward Mote expressed it this
way in verses two and three of his powerful 1834 song, "My Hope Is Built
On Nothing Less" – "In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds
within the vale ... When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope
and stay." We are taught to "put on ... as a helmet the hope of
salvation" (1 Thessalonians 5:8b). This verse likens our hope in
Jesus to a helmet covering our head, protecting our prone-to-wander minds,
helping us to keep our minds "set on things above, not on things on
earth" (Colossians 3:2). And when a loved one dies in Christ,
Christians sorrow, but "not sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we
believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those
who sleep in Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 4:13b-14). No wonder then the
apostle Paul referred to "the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope" (1
Timothy 1:1b). A fundamental truth of Scripture is that we are not made
solely for this present life. This life was never intended to fully satisfy us.
"If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most
to be pitied" (1 Corinthians 15:19). Christians freely admit that
when it comes to forgiveness of sin, separation from God, death and getting out
of the grave, we have only one hope (Ephesians 4:4). The thing is,
that’s one more than the world has, for those without Christ have "no hope"
(Ephesians 2:12). Please tell me – why would anybody ever abandon the
one hope we have for a world that offers no hope at all? Just asking.
"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without
wavering, for He is faithful who promised" Hebrews
10:23
by: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN
