¹² Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12 NKJV)

If I begin the line, “Do unto others…”, I would bet close to 100% of you could complete the rule without a second thought. Our scripture regarding the Golden Rule is often repeated but rarely cited as scripture. But this is because it is a common sense rule, and those outside the faith rarely realize how many common sense rules come from scripture.

It is a good rule of thumb in concept, but I do not see it played out practically. As believers we should read it, “love others as you would have them love you”. This can be the rub. Not everyone seems lovable. We want to love only the lovable. The others we tend to discard. We do not pray for them and typically we find ways to exclude them from our lives. Again, this is where human nature is stronger than our spiritual nature. We love the scripture but only want to apply it to those who meet a certain criteria.

Christ calls on us to do the hard things. To pray for and befriend even those who we do not necessarily believe deserve it. Christ believes everyone deserves it. This is where our spiritual nature has to be stronger than our human nature.

Reflect on: Your practical application of the Golden Rule. Are you living up to Christ example of it?