Perverting the Golden Rule, and the road to really living it
It is not...
• Do unto others or they will do unto you (fear) • Do unto others before they do unto you (malice) • Do unto others because they have done unto you (retaliation) • I won’t do unto others so that they won’t do unto me (silver rule) • Do unto others as they would have you do (godlessness) • Do unto others so that they will do unto you (selfishness) • I won’t do unto others because they won’t do unto me (bitterness)
This Golden Rule is the summation of all that had gone on before it, and we see that there is a road to this is as seen in the Beatitudes, where the Sermon on the Mount starts. The Beatitudes reveal 7 qualities that reflect the spiritual life God desires for His people, 7 things that reveal aspects of God’s own character as exemplified in the life of Jesus. These 7 “blessings” are markers along the road to the Golden Rule. In order to be able to live out the Golden Rule as our rule of life, we need to follow along the path that these blessings point to.
We cannot simply say, “Go out and live in perfect obedience to everything God said and then you will be like Jesus." True saving and sanctifying faith are not found in self-sacrifice, they are found in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. You need Jesus or you will not be able to walk the road. We walk it by faith, knowing that He has accomplished the walk for us, and when you fall He lifts you up, it is not your walk, your good works, it is His, and we follow Him along that path because we are saying that this is the right way and we follow the righteous One. Jesus IS the Golden Rule, the way the truth and the life of it.
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