The Golden Rule

I don’t know about you, but I love summaries. I recall those days back in high school when I used to hate history classes because of long dates, and my only rescue were the summaries of essential events that my teacher would give at the end of each chapter. Now I find it interesting that I still remember random dates such as December 5, 1492 when Christopher Columbus discovered the Island of Haiti, and October 31, 1517 when Martin Luther nailed the 95 theses of Justification by Faith on the door of his Wittenberg Church. Now when it comes to the Bible, people need to know its essentials even better than historical facts. And Jesus, as an awesome teacher, gives us a summary of the Law and the Prophets (Old Testament) in His famous Sermon on the Mount. He made the provision for forgetful Christians like me, in Matthew 7:17, saying, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets [Emphasis mine] (NIV).” This golden rule is repeated by Jesus in Matthew 22: 38-40 as the greatest commandment of all: love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind… [And] love your neighbor as yourself. Later on the Apostle John contends that anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen (1 John 4:19b, NIV). 

           

Loving our neighbors as ourselves is the  essence of God’s commandments to men, and the church, as a people called to please and obey God, should show genuine love in treating others as we want them to treat us. This can seem hard to apply on a daily basis. The key is, as the Holy Spirit enables us, to learn how to love from the inside out, in all areas of our being: in our hearts, our eyes, our mouths, and our hands.  

 

Love starts with the heart

Because every action we commit is prompted from within, our hearts constitute the first and foremost area where love needs to grow. Learning how to think of others and feeling about them with the same attitude we have toward ourselves are part of practicing love. Jesus says that out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander and these make a man ‘unclean’ as opposed to eating without washing one’s hands (Matt. 15:19-20). In contrast, out of a regenerated heart come loving actions that make a man clean or pure in the eyes of God: good will, respect, kindness, forgiveness and all kinds of virtues. It’s impossible to work these out within our own strength, but drawing upon the power of God in our hearts, we can nurse toward others the same attitude we have toward ourselves. Have you ever wanted to abuse yourself or steal your own money, lie to yourself, slander yourself, or despise yourself? If this is less than likely so, then we know how to feel about others in order to love them.

 

Love is seen through the eyes

Once our hearts take the direction of love, it comes naturally to see others with high regards, eyes of kindness, and good will. Thus the next area where love needs to grow is our eyes. With them we can communicate contempt or admiration, approval or disapproval to people. Even little children know what daddy’s look means when they do something reprehensible. In the same way, people know what our looks mean. Although “look” is not a concrete term, we sometimes use the adjective “dirty” to describe it. What can wash out a dirty look?—Nothing but a clean heart. And this comes from empathizing with others.

 

Love is seen through the mouth

Not only are the eyes a door to the heart, the mouth also exposes what is within. The words we speak can serve as a double-edged sword. They can bless or curse others, lift them up or hurt them, show indifference or contempt or love. The power of our words should not be underestimated. Words can encourage an athlete to become a champion or anyone to do great accomplishments, and words can make someone feel as bad as to the point to make them lose  self-esteem and self-worth and commit suicide in the worst cases. A couple of months ago, I went to the taste of Chicago and I saw a lady sobbing upon the shoulder of a friend of hers saying, “…she [or he] said I am fat.” Astoundingly enough, she wasn’t fat, in my opinion. If only she knew that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, she wouldn’t rely on people’s comment to shape her self-esteem. We need to be sensitive to others. I wish I always rolled my tongue seven times in my mouth before I ever said anything, because I can relate to too  may times when I wish I could go back in time and change my words. The point is not to avoid telling people some sad truths when this is going to help them. But in all cases, it should be done with love. Again, putting ourselves in other people’s shoes will help practice this kind of love seen through words that bless.

 

Love is seen through the hands

Lastly, the area where love should be worked out is our hands. They are the instruments of our actions and show the ultimate state of our hearts. As Jesus says, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, and thefts originate in the heart. If we practice love from within, then our actions won’t be evil ones like the above. But if we let our hearts feed on unloving attitudes, they can in turn prompt evil looks, evil words and then evil actions of the same nature as killing people, treating them like sexual objects, or take away what they own etc. On the other hand, if we grow love in our hearts, our actions, which speak louder than our words, will show genuine love. The apostle John says, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in Him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth (1 John 3: 17-18, NIV).”        

 

Love is the ultimate evidence of discipleship

Discussing about the proper use of spiritual gifts in 1 Cor. 13, Paul makes case for love as the most important gift of all. No gifts of miracles, prophecy or even self-sacrifice mean anything without love; neither can they surpass it. And Jesus says that the disciples should be known for their love for one another (John 13:35). Note that he doesn’t put miracles or any ostentatious endeavor (although miracles are great) as evidence of true discipleship. He simply says, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

I am sure many Christians will experience great regret when Jesus comes back. Why? They will realize then how much they have wasted their lives and time on things that don’t matter for eternity: making money for the sake or it, getting famous, enjoying entertainment—which are not necessarily wrong—while they didn’t show love, the golden rule, the only way to please God and hear the great “Well done good and faithful servants!” But it doesn’t have to be so, we can change it today. We can start loving others first with our hearts, then with our eyes, our mouths, and our hands.