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Doing Unto Others

             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)

 

          This morning I’m having some problems with this verse, and maybe it’s a good thing. We want to have no needs, to be cared for, and valued. We want to have everything we want but not to be required to give anything we don’t want to. Ultimately, we want to be their god. In my case, I’m a little bipolar about it. I want to be right, to be listened to, to feel valued and celebrated but I also want to be invisible, to slip unnoticed through the world. I want to be dependable but not in a way that results in so much work to do that I feel like a slave, or that I feel overwhelmed. When it comes to treating others the same way, you suspect my answer, and you’re right. “You aren’t my parent, my master, or my God!”

          As I think about these things more, however, I realize that while the wants that I’ve listed are things that we want, most of them are immature and selfish. It also destroys our self-image. I suspect that’s why my idea of a knight in shining armor is someone who comes along and fixes things when I can’t, but who goes away until the next time I need him. When I think about it, I don’t want to be coddled like a baby. I want to be treated as an adult.

          I think this is the lesson for me for today – when Jesus taught to treat others as we want to be treated, He wasn’t talking about our treating others as we want to be treated when we’re being spoiled rotten, selfish brats. He was talking about our treating others as we want to be treated when we’re being rational, responsible adults.

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