People treat people like garbage. All the time. It's sort of normal. Mean people are normal, but I find overly nice people to be a little "off." Something about the "super-nice" seems disingenuous. I absolutely love the word disingenuous; it's fun to say, but also, its meaning is incredible. It isn't simply being fake, but it's being fake by pretending to know less about something than you really know. So, in my opinion, people who are ridiculously nice are just pretending not to know: it's a dog eat dog world.
Or...it's a genius strategy. You don't know I'm baring my teeth, because you think I'm just smiling at you.
We live in the world Micah described, the one in which you can trust no one:
Do not trust in a neighbor; do not have confidence in a friend. From her who lies in your bosom guard your lips. For son treats father contemptuously, daughter rises up against her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own household.
- Micah 7:5-6
People are out for "number one." Society has decided that there are winners and there are losers. Leaders of the pack, and sheep. Devourers and those who shall be devoured. And everyone wants to end up on top. The question is: how do you treat people in your battle to the top?
“In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets." - Matthew 7:12
Ah the good ole "Golden Rule." This scripture is so cliche and over-used (by Christians and non-Christians alike) that it almost means nothing to me. But this past week I was studying the Sermon on the Mount, and came to this passage and thought: "but...why does it say 'therefore?'"
Therefore is a tricky little word. It means that there was something written before this, that is the reason for this. Because of something else, I should treat people the same way I want to be treated.
Now...I never, even for a second, imagine that what I write is a new or original thought. It's not. SOMEONE has definitely thought this before. BUT, I've personally never heard this particular scripture brought in this way, so bear with me.
The scriptures immediately preceding Matthew 7:12 seemingly have absolutely nothing to do with this statement:
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! - Matthew 7:7-11
I think because this scripture seems wholly unrelated some commentaries have concluded that the "therefore" refers to the entire sermon previous (2 whole chapters that came down to this). That is a lot of ground to cover, and it might be true. But...me? I think the reason for the Golden Rule is Matthew 7:7-11.
Here is how I came to this conclusion.
1. Why do I treat people badly?
Jesus tells me to treat people the way I want to be treated. This implies that previously people were getting treated like dirt. Why? Well there are finite resources on this planet. And I have to get them. If you get them, and I don't? Jealous. If we're both in a position to get them? Fight it out; to the victor goes the spoils. If I got some of them, but yours are bigger and better? Anger, disappointment, and again...jealousy. This results in bad treatment.
2. But I have to fight for the resources...there's no other way to live. Right?
James says the reasons for fights isn't the resources. It's because we didn't ask for the resources:
What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.
- James 4:1-2
James acknowledges the problem. You want things! But you don't have them. So you act up. But the reason why you have isn't because this other person is better than you. And it isn't because the other person was in your way. You don't have because...you do not ask.
And there is Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, saying: ASK! Ask. And I'll give it. But sometimes we're afraid of God. "I'll ask for a blessing, and I'll get a curse." This is the equivalent, of asking for bread and getting a stone. We have gotten in the habit of thinking that God gives us the useless thing (the stone) that we didn't want at all, when we need life-saving bread. Or we think that God will harm us (the snake), for asking for something more than bread (the fish). So we stay silent.
And we try to get the bread and the fish for ourselves. Even if we have to snatch it out of someone's hand. Heck, I'll take the bread out of your mouth! Yank!
But God says: you don't have to do that.
IF we believed that God was the infinite resource, we wouldn't fight other people for finite resources. IF we believed that God was on our side, we wouldn't manipulate people into our corner.
IF we believed...we'd be free to treat people the way we want to be treated.
We wouldn't worry about losing out. We wouldn't worry about how that person took the "last" of something. We wouldn't have to quarrel, fight, or have envy. We could genuinely be nice and in everything treat people like the kings and queens we believe ourselves to be.
If you go online, there will be tons of blogs and articles with "practical ways" you can live out the Golden Rule. But I really think there are just two:
Ask.
And Believe.
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