Reason #800
Eight hundred down, two hundred to go. I have about 6 months left until I reach 1000. Half a year and I’m done. Maybe. I have yet to decide what will happen when I reach my 1000th reason. Stop, keep going, occasionally blog. Who knows. In fact, who knows what life will look like in 6 months. I’d like to think I know, but I’ve stopped playing the guessing game as much as I can because nothing feels worse than fully planning and expecting to be somewhere at a certain point and failing to end up there. That’s okay, regardless. you learn a lot along the way.
I try to live by the golden rule, but I’m not always a golden girl and I certainly fail more often than not. I know how I want to be treated, and so I do my best to treat people that way. To be honest, authentic, real, and consistent. And so when we look at the golden rule that way, although hard to live up to all the time, it doesn’t seem to be too much to ask. “Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you.” If you don’t want people to be rude to you, then don’t be rude to them. If you don’t want them to judge you, then don’t judge them. You want their help in time of need, so help them in their time of need. You covet their prayers, so you pray for them. You want to be treated with respect, so you treat everyone else with respect. You want to feel welcomed, so you make an effort to make others feel welcomed. But what happens when you do unto others as you’d have them do unto you yet they don’t do unto as you did to them?
I struggle with wanting to flip the rule around to say, “Do unto others as they have done unto you.” And while I know that’s not an admirable thing for me to admit about myself, I’m just being honest. The Lord has recently shed light on this area of my life, and it’s been a hard pill to swallow because it hurts and it’s unfair. But that doesn’t mean it’s okay. Just because I feel justified by someone else’s behavior doesn’t mean that I am. And when the wisdom of the golden rule was breathed onto the pages of scripture, I have to believe that the Lord knew we needed it that way. Just because you do unto others doesn’t mean they are required to do unto you. It’s not a guarantee that the same type of treatment will be returned, but that’s no excuse to get out of it.
If we want to look like Jesus, we’ve got to do what He did. What if Jesus did unto you as you’ve done unto Him? For our sakes, it’s a good thing He stuck to the golden rule, isn’t it? Jesus cares about how you are treated, and He cares about how you treat others. You can’t always help what’s done unto you, but you are completely in control of what you’re doing unto others. And so if someone has been rude to you, do unto them as you’d like for them to do unto you. If someone won’t forgive you, do unto them as you’d like for them to do unto you. If someone hurts you or makes you feel unwelcomed, do unto them as you’d like for them to do unto you. If they cut you with their words, if their eyes burn holes in your back, if they share your secrets, judge your past, treat you unfairly, or pour salt in your wounds, do unto them as you’d like for them to do unto you. Be the bigger person. Jesus was.
#800 – Because He does unto us as He would have us do unto Him.
"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