Hello
The little boy grabbed the larger cake slice; and justified his actions by putting his dad in his shoes – what piece would you have taken – isn’t that what you got? It stumped his dad and the boy avoided punishment. Today’s Holy Nougat invites us to think about the other; as well as ourselves. Enjoy
““Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.” Matthew 7:12 NLT
‘Do unto others …’ – kinda self evident isn’t it? Yet, we’re told that Jesus felt the need to spell it out for us. So perhaps it is not as obvious as it seems that we should treat others as we wish to be treated; regardless of class, status, race, gender, power or religion.
Not as easy in a world where much of the commodities we enjoy are at the expense of disadvantaged people; especially women and children. And where life revolves around the ‘I’. Further, the ‘we’ moments are often rooted in peer pressure, where peers and role models are not necessarily offering selflessness as a virtue to be emulated.
But what if Jesus sought to appeal to us; even though our innate selfishness? Just think – if I treat as I wish to be treated, my motives may be totally misguided, but my actions ought to honor the humanity of the others if I wish to be treated as human. So, it’s not about chivalry or prejudice or status; but love.
That being said, why is it such a challenge for us? I seriously have zero idea. Maybe tho, us humans have a misguided notion that we each are more important or valuable than others. So we try to secure for ourselves without pausing to consider the other. And we have even found reasons to justify our actions.
To get back on track, we probably need to be intentional about caring for ourselves, so we can care about others in Love. When we are about to act, can we consider how we would react to actions like ours. As we speak, let us check our own response to those words. Because if we love God as we love ourselves, then how we treat others reveals how we wish God to receive us. Yup; it’s all connected!
So even when we begin with selfishness, we have cause to consider You and the other. Are we ready for it?
Good morning
In Christ’s love and grace . . .
