SM #43: The Heart of the Bible
- BOO
- Sep 28
- 40 min read
Updated: Oct 9
Therefore, in all things, whatever you desire people to do for you, do also the same for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. ~ JESUS (Matthew 7:12)
CORE
(The heart of the message)
In the Golden Rule, Jesus trusts us to use our own observations, imaginations, and intuitions to figure out the best way to relate to one another. This frees us from codependence upon religious leaders or holy texts to figure out the next right thing.
As disciples of Jesus, we place our faith in the one who places his faith in us.
CONUNDRUM
(Raising questions skeptics might be asking)
Hey Jesus,
I don't get this Golden Rule business. So, if I want to get drunk all the time, am I supposed to encourage other people to get drunk with me? Or what if I'm a sadomasochist? As a masochist, I'd like someone else to cause me pain, so should I inflict pain on others? This "rule" for life is poetic and looks good on a wall hanging, but I don't see how it is helpful in the real world.
What gives Jesus?
CONTEXT
(What’s going on before and after this passage)
This context section is so long, we'll use subheadings...
ROOTS AND SHOOTS
The Golden Rule is not a detached principle floating in metaphysical space. We do not encounter it in a value vacuum. The Golden Rule is attached to other teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, and in fact, all of Scripture.
We all know lots of generalized moral maxims and poetic platitudes that can make sense regardless of context. For instance, here is a top 30 list of popular proverbs. How many do you know?...
Honesty is the best __________.
Look before you __________.
Two wrongs don't make a __________.
Don’t judge a book by its __________.
Practice what you __________.
The ends (don't) justify the __________.
It takes a village to raise a __________.
Don't kick someone when they're __________.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the __________.
Don’t count your chickens before they __________.
The early bird gets the __________.
You can’t have your cake and __________.
The grass is always greener on the __________.
Don’t put all your eggs in one __________.
A stitch in time saves __________.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of __________.
A penny saved is a penny __________.
If it ain’t broke, don’t __________.
Rome wasn’t built in __________.
Don’t cry over spilled __________.
Better late than __________.
Every cloud has a __________.
Every rose has its __________.
Where there’s smoke, there’s __________.
You reap what you __________.
When it rains, it __________.
Dance like no one is __________.
Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man __________.
The road to hell is paved with __________.
All that glitters is not __________.
Indeed, all that glitters is not the Golden Rule.
Unlike these other pithy proverbs, the Golden Rule is a living, breathing, life-force growing out of the soil of the Bible and energized by the "son-light" of the Holy Spirit. For Jesus, the Golden Rule only makes sense within its context of the love learned within the Sermon on the Mount and all of Scripture.
The Golden Rule begins with the word "Therefore" (the second word in the Greek text). And when we see the word "therefore" we always ask: What is it there for? The Golden Rule is rooted in what comes before. And what comes before is Jesus' teaching on pursuing a deeper spiritual connection with the Holy Spirit.
Not only does it begin with a "therefore" or "so", it ends with Jesus saying that the Golden Rule expresses the essence of "the Law and the Prophets". So the Golden Rule has two main roots, one identified at the start and one at the end; one that connect it to the entire Old Testament (the end root) and the other that connects it to the New Testament teaching of Jesus (the beginning root). One root embeds it in external guidance (Scripture) and the other in internal guidance (the Holy Spirit). One is tangible, the other is mystical. Both are important to live the Jesus life.
Remembering this will help us understand its meaning and apply its power. (More on this below.)
"This simple principle would by itself revitalize human relationships if people everywhere were to begin to live by it." ~ Grant R. Osborne (Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament)
THE WAY OF LOVE
Later in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus will return to this topic in a different form. When asked to name the greatest law of Moses, the ultimate commandment in the Torah, he says:
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” ~ JESUS (Matthew 22:37-40)
Jesus was asked for the one greatest commandment and he couldn't leave love for God alone without binding it together with love of neighbour. So he sandwiches together Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. In the Golden Rule, Jesus focuses on that second command, makes it the first command, and tells us how to do it.
True, the Golden Rule as expressed in Matthew 7:12/Luke 6:31 does not use the word "love". But when we study it within its context in the Sermon on the Mount and in comparison with other parallel passages, then one thing becomes clear:
The Golden Rule is describing how to love.
So, "Love your neighbour as yourself" and "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" are two sides of the same coin, two ways of verbalizing the same principle.
Once again, Luke's Gospel helps provide even more context. He places the Golden Rule in the middle of Jesus' teaching on enemy love (see Luke 6:31 and surrounding discussion). So it would be right to understand the Golden Rule as a call to other-centred self-giving proactive love, even when others do not reciprocate in kind. We do not practice the Golden Rule as a kind of trade deal (I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine). We practice the Golden Rule. Period. The Golden Rule, if it is to remain golden, is an expression of unconditional love, even love of enemies.
Interestingly, in the above dialogue in Matthew 22, Jesus is responding to a question about the Law when he says the two greatest commandments in the Torah are loving God and loving neighbour. But when teaching on his own, from his heart, Jesus gives only one command, and he makes the second the first. It is as though Jesus knew the human heart and, left to our pursuit of God alone, we might be tempted to ignore others, sometimes step over them, or even harm them in our pursuit of God. So he makes the second commandment the first commandment and, in fact, the only commandment.
In the Golden Rule, we no longer love God and love our neighbour as ourselves; we love God by loving our neighbour as ourselves.
Jesus has already surprised his hearers in the Sermon on the Mount with this kind of radical, people first, irreligious thinking. Earlier he said even that if you are in the middle of worshipping God at the Temple and you remember you need to reconcile with a sister or brother back home, stop what you're doing, leave your sacrifice, and go work things out with the other person. People first; God will wait. Wow.
If we picture religion as a stairway to heaven or a tower we build to reach up to God, Jesus tips religion on its side. He prioritizes reaching out over reaching up.
THE NEW TESTAMENT EMPHASIS OF LOVING OTHERS
The early Church picked up on this and reinforced it. Repeatedly in the New Testament, loving others, without any mention of loving God, is stated as our first priority and the fulfillment of the law. Take a look!
Whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. ~ The apostle Paul (Romans 13:8)
For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself." ~ The apostle Paul (Galatians 5:14)
If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. ~ James the brother of Jesus (James 2:8)
The "royal law"! The Golden Rule is the law of the King and his Kingdom.
Above all, love each other deeply. ~ The apostle Peter (1 Peter 4:8)
We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. ... This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. ~ The apostle John (1 John 3:14-16)
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. ~ The apostle John (1 John 4:11)
Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. ~ The apostle John (1 John 4:20)
Repeatedly, when we would expect a religious text to tell us to love God or lay our lives down for God, the New Testament authors tell us to focus on loving and giving and serving other people. That second command is our first priority. This is how we experience and express the love of God. (This point is so important we will return to it in our commentary. For now, let's move on.)
THE GOLDEN RULE AND WORLD RELIGIONS
Some expression approximating the Golden Rule (usually expressed negatively, as the Silver Rule) can be found in almost every faith system. This coheres with what the apostle Paul writes:
Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts. ~ The apostle Paul (Romans 2:14-15)
The difference with Jesus is his claim that the Golden Rule is central to his ethic and the sum and goal of all Scripture. No one else gives the Golden Rule or Silver Rule such prominence of place.
Here is a limited chronological summary of how this Golden Rule teaching has appeared throughout history...
c. 1450 BC–450 BC The Jewish Bible gives us the oldest recorded statement of one form of the Golden Rule: “Don’t oppress a foreigner, for you well know how it feels to be a foreigner, since you were foreigners yourselves in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 23:9) and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18).
c. 700 BC In Homer’s Odyssey, the goddess Calypso tells Odysseus: “I’ll be as careful for you as I’d be for myself in like need. I know what is fair and right.”
c. 551–479 BC Confucius sums up his teaching as: “Don’t do to others what you don’t want them to do to you”: 己所不欲勿施於人. (Analects 15:23)
c. 500 BC Jainism teaches: “A monk should treat all beings as he himself would be treated.” (Jaina Sutras, Sutrakritanga, bk. 1, 10:1–3)
c. 500 BC Taoist Laozi says: “To those who are good to me, I am good; and to those who are not good to me, I am also good; and thus all get to receive good.” (Tao Te Ching 49) A later work says: “Regard your neighbor’s gain as your gain and your neighbor’s loss as your loss.” (T’ai-Shang Kan-Ying P’ien)
c. 500 BC (or older) Zoroaster in Persia teaches: “Don’t do to others what isn’t good for you.”
c. 480-400 (some scholars say 563–483 BC) Buddha in India teaches: “Hurt not others with what pains yourself” (Dhammapada, Northern Canon, 5:18).
c. 479–438 BC Mo Tzu in China teaches: “Universal love is to regard another’s state as one’s own. A person of universal love will take care of his friend as he does of himself, and take care of his friend’s parents as his own. So when he finds his friend hungry he will feed him, and when he finds him cold he will clothe him.” (Book of Mozi, ch. 4)
c. 440 BC Socrates (c. 470–399 BC) and later Plato (c. 428–347 BC) begin the classical era of Greek philosophy. Golden Rule thinking is not prominent in their teaching, but sometimes leaves a trace.
c. 436–338 BC Isocrates (no relation) and other lesser known Greek philosophers teach: “Don’t do to others what angers you when you experience it from others.”
c. 400 BC Hinduism teaches: “One who regards all creatures as his own self, and behaves towards them as towards his own self attains happiness. One should never do to another what one regards as hurtful to one’s own self. This, in brief, is the rule of righteousness. In happiness and misery, in the agreeable and the disagreeable, one should judge effects as if they came to one’s own self.” (Mahabharata bk. 13: Anusasana Parva, §113)
c. 384–322 BC Aristotle says: “As the virtuous man is to himself, he is to his friend also, for his friend is another self” (Nicomachean Ethics 9:9). Diogenes Laertius (c. 225 AD) reports Aristotle as saying that we should behave to our friends as we wish our friends to behave to us.
c. 372–289 BC Mencius, Confucius’s follower, says: “Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence.” (Works bk. 7, A:4)
c. 300 BC Sextus the Pythagorean teaches: “As you wish your neighbors to treat you, so treat them. What you censure, do not do.” (Meier 2009: 554 & 628)
c. 150 BC Various Jewish sources: “See that you never do to another what you’d hate to have done to yourself.” (Tobit 4:16) “Judge the needs of your guest by your own.” (Sirach 31:15)
c. 30 BC–10 AD Rabbi Hillel: “What is hateful to yourself, don’t do to another." (Sanhedrin of the Babylonian Talmud 56a)
c. 4 BC–27 AD Jesus gives the Golden Rule as most people know it and makes it central to biblical ethics. (Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31) Later illustrated by the Good Samaritan parable.
c. 50-60 AD Jesus' apostles teach the Golden Rule as the sum of all Scripture. (Romans 13:8; Galatians 5:14; etc)
c. 80 AD The Didache, summarizing early Christian teachings, begins: “There are two paths, one of life and one of death, and a great difference between them. The way of life is this. First, you shall love the God who made you. Second, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And whatever you wouldn’t have done to you, don’t do to another.”
c. 222–235 AD Roman Emperor Severus Alexander adopts the negative version as his motto (in Latin, Quod tibi non vis fieri, alteri ne feceris), displays it on public buildings, and has it inscribed in gold on his palace wall.
c. 610 Muhammad receives/writes the Qur’an, which has no Golden Rule, but a Hadith (a tradition) reports Muhammad saying: “None of you is a true believer unless he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.” (Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi, Hadith 13)
c. 1817-1892 AD Baáʼu'lláh, founder of the Baháʼí Faith in Iran, writes: "Lay not on any soul a load that you would not wish to be laid upon you". And "Choose thou for thy neighbour that which thou choosest for thyself." (Epistle to the Son of the Wolf)
[I'm grateful to Harry J. Gensler's book, Ethics and the Golden Rule, for most of this chronological overview.]
One key factor that sets Jesus apart on this list is his centralizing of the Golden Rule, summing up all of scripture with this way of loving others. In most other schools of thought, Golden Rule thinking lies on the periphery; it plays a minor role and would go largely unnoticed if Jesus had not motivated scholars to pay closer attention. For instance, the U.N. Golden Rule poster pictured above took five years to research precisely because most religions do not make this teaching obvious or central. In other words, we only realize how common the idea is among other religions and philosophies because we set out to find it. And we set out to find it because of Jesus.
WHY IS THE SILVER RULE MORE POPULAR?
About 20 AD, the famous Rabbi Hillel (teacher of Gamaliel, who was the teacher of the apostle Paul) was challenged by a Gentile to summarize the entire Torah in as short a time as possible (literally, for as long as the man could balance standing on one leg). To this, Hillel responded:
"What is hateful to you, do not do to anyone else. This is the whole law; all the rest is commentary." ~ Rabbi Hillel (Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Shabbat, 31a)
This negative version of the Golden Rule (as it is also expressed in the Jewish book of Tobit) is sometimes called "the Silver Rule" and it is more popular among world religions. Among the most prominent rabbis of his day, only Jesus taught a positive, proactive form of this principle and made it the central summary of Scripture. And this makes a difference. Just not doing mean things is not enough to change relationships or change the world. If being a good person was just about what we don't do, the Parable of the Sheep and Goats would go much differently and the Parable of the Good Samaritan would become the Parable of the Religious Leaders who did Nothing.
The Golden Rule is active, whereas the Silver Rule is passive.
The Golden Rule is PROactive, whereas the Silver Rule is REactive.
Most religions have some form of the Silver Rule, the negative expression. Most Eastern religions (like Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism), for instance, practice the rule of Ahimsa, which means "do no harm" or "cause no injury" to any living creature.
When Confucius was asked for a one-word rule of life, he responded: "Is not reciprocity such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others." These different configurations of the Silver Rule are admirable teachings, but they fail to pack the punch of the world-changing power of the Golden Rule.
The Golden Rule is not reciprocal but initiatory.
Clearly, the Silver Rule is more common. Even those couple of expressions that appear to be positively rather than negatively worded end up falling short. For instance, Islam's version comes from the Hadiths, not the Qur'an (although 4:36, an injunction for Muslims to be kind to travelers they meet and to the slaves they own comes close), and the wording is familial (i.e., "brothers") which is most commonly applied to fellow Muslims only, although some interpreters do seek to universalize the teaching. (Notice how the U.N. Golden Rule poster above paraphrases this example to make it more universal.) Plus, since it is written hundreds of years after Jesus and after contact and mutual learning has already happened between Christians and Muslims, many historians see this statement as something Muhammad may have learned from Christians, since Jesus is considered a prophet within Islam.
And even though Taoism comes close to being positive, it ends up being more neutral, since it addresses a state of mind and way to see the world more than a way of taking action.
The Silver Rule is more popular, perhaps, because it is easier to understand and to implement. We parents tend to teach Silver Rule thinking to our kids when they have done something bad. "Billy! How would you like it if your sister bit you?!" But we lack the imagination (or maybe the energy) to brainstorm with them how to initiate practicing the Golden Rule.
In his excellent and thorough study of the Golden Rule from a religious, philosophical, and psychological perspective, the philosopher Jeffrey Wattles documents how the Silver Rule (the negative Golden Rule) is easier for children to remember. When children are asked to make two lists, one list of the ways they don't want to be treated and a second list of the ways they do want to be treated, the first list is always longer and easier to think of.
Even as adults who want to follow Jesus, we should be aware of how simple it is to slip into Silver Rule living and think we are following the Golden Rule when we are not.
We first see this slip from Gold to Silver thinking right away in the New Testament itself, where the apostle Paul cites love of neighbour (the Golden Rule), then follows that up with a negative example (the Silver Rule).
The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. ~ The apostle Paul (Romans 13:9-10)
To be fair, Paul is expounding on negatively expressed Old Testament laws, so he may be intentionally summarizing scripture here. But we see the same slip into the negative formulation as the dominant expression in the earliest post-New Testament Christian writings. For instance, The Didache, the earliest discipleship document of the Church, states the Golden Rule then explains it in terms of the Silver Rule:
"Love your neighbor as yourself, and do not do to another what you would not want done to you." ~ The Didache (1:2)
Because the negative is easier to imagine, it will always have greater gravitational pull on our ethics and imaginations. The more positive and proactive approach to loving others will take more intentionality and effort, but it's worth it. As the philosopher Dallas Willard reminds us:
"The Golden Rule is devoted to the good in the lives of those around us, and this reaches far beyond the mere absence of harm.... it aspires toward a remarkable richness in their lives, not simply the alleviation of their suffering." ~ Dallas Willard (Knowing Christ Today)
THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME "GOLDEN RULE"
Why has this teaching become known as "The Golden Rule"?
Christians first began using this title in the 1600s, based on a story of the Roman Emperor Severus Alexander (208–235 AD) who was sympathetic toward Christians. Though he never converted, he believed this teaching was so foundational for human ethics that he had it inscribed in gold on his palace walls.
But of course the "Golden Rule" title works for a different reason: this principle is pure gold. One possible misleading part of its name is the "rule" bit. The Golden Rule is more of a flexible principle than a rigid law. Yet, it can be considered a "rule" in one sense of the word - as a ruler, a guideline, a measurement for what is right, a way to be followed.
THE GOLDEN RULE AND ETHICS APOLOGETICS
The Golden Rule serves as one example of an "Ethic Apologetic" for Jesus. Ethics Apologetics refers to the idea of providing evidence for the reality and truth of Christ through his teaching, especially his moral philosophy. Rather than offer evidence for the Christian faith beginning with debates around the existence of God, the manuscript evidence for the Bible, or the miracles of Jesus, especially the resurrection, Ethics Apologetics invites people to experience their own miracle through learning and living the life-changing teaching of Jesus.
Jesus' teachings, specifically his moral philosophy, bear the marks of the miraculous. As we discuss in this earlier article, there is something uniquely powerful, relevant, and transformative about the teaching of Jesus that defies human explanation. If this proposition is explored, tested, and eventually accepted as true, we can then move on to trust Jesus' other teaching about less-testable things, like the loving nature of God as our Father and Jesus' own identity as the unique Son of God come to
SHOW US God's love,
SAVE US from sin,
SET UP God's Kingdom, and
SHUT DOWN religion,
so we can SHARE IN God's life.
We can trust in ancient miracles like Jesus walking on water, turning water into wine, and ultimately, rising from the dead, once we experience the supernatural nature of his moral philosophy for ourselves. This takes the pressure off all traditional Christian evangelism and apologetics. As Christians, we don't have to carry the burden of convincing others that God exists or that Jesus rose from the dead, for instance; we simply introduce them to Jesus' teachings, and let him do whatever convincing needs to be done.
And part of what substantiates Jesus' teaching as uniquely helpful and healing is the unique aspects of his Golden Rule teaching. (More on this to come.)
This approach to apologetics comes from Jesus himself who gives us all this amazing challenge - apply my teaching to your life and let the results convince you of who I am.
My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. ~ JESUS (John 7:16-17)
If you're struggling to figure out who Jesus is - the Son of God or just a really wise Jewish philosopher - commit yourself to living out his teaching. Try it on for size. Give it a test drive. Maybe for a few months, or better for a year, or even better for three years. The results will convince you. (Or they won't, and as Christians we leave that in God's hands with no pressure to do the Holy Spirit's work for him.)
[Here are three Power Point slides I made years ago to help me explain the value of "Ethics Apologetics" or what I sometimes call "Teaching-Based Apologetics".]
That was a long "Context" section. Thanks for sticking with it. Now lets get out of the context and into the text...
CONSIDER
(Observations about the passage)
Therefore. As discussed above (and again below, because it is so important), this one word connects the Golden Rule to what comes before, especially what comes immediately before - God's promise that when we ask, seek, and knock, we will receive, find, and enter into more and more of God's goodness. Before that, Jesus was teaching about living a nonjudgmental, human-valuing, kingdom-seeking, Spirit-filled life. And for that, we need God's help. We are not meant to live out the Golden Rule without experiencing the Golden Promise: a continual flow of God's love poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). Ultimately, this "therefore" embeds the Golden Rule in the entire Sermon on the Mount. Like a living plant, the Golden Rule will not thrive if we pull it out of its soil.
God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. ~ The apostle Paul (Romans 5:5)
In all things, whatever. The Greek text uses two totalizing words together here (panta hosa) to emphasize that the Golden Rule is meant to be our always everywhere in everything guide. This same word duo is used in the Great Commission, even though they are usually condensed into one word there, where Jesus says that the process of discipleship is a matter of teaching people how to obey everything whatever (panta hosa) Jesus has taught us (Matthew 20:20). Right now, as we study this, we are engaging in what Jesus calls the process of discipleship, or disciple-making, or disciple-formation, learning together the teachings of Jesus. Some scholars see Jesus using this word duo in the Sermon on the Mount as a summary phrase, a way of saying "Here is the sum of the matter", reinforcing that the Golden Rule is the sum of the Sermon on the Mount.
Desire. Jesus is telling us to live in tune with our core desires, not just our fleeting circumstantial cravings or even our reasoned calculations. Arriving at our next ethical choice through the Golden Rule is not meant to be a purely intellectual exercise, nor an emotional impulse, but an intuitive heart response, when our hearts are shaped by the Holy Spirit. The Greek word for "want" or "will" or "desire" here is not the usual word for pure emotional craving or lust, but a variant of what is used earlier in the Lord's Prayer, where Jesus teaches us to pray, "Your Kingdom come, your will be done" (Matthew 6:10). Jesus is banking on the idea that, if we have given ourselves over to being his disciples and have embraced God as our loving Father and have received, found, and entered into a deeper life with the Holy Spirit, then our core desires, our deepest willing, will be for things like grace, mercy, peace, faith, hope, and love. And we should use our awareness of our own core desires to tap into the core needs of others. Meditating on and practicing the Golden Rule "in all things" will be a psychologically healthy, spiritually enlightening, and relationally connecting experience.
"If you listen to yourself in all of life, you will be led out of yourself into a life of loving others." ~ Scot McKnight (Sermon on the Mount)
People. Jesus does not limit this principle to in-house Christian-to-Christian ethics. Jesus/Matthew uses the Greek word for people in general (anthrōpoi) here, rather than any potentially limiting word like disciples or believers or brothers or even neighbours. This ethic is about how we relate to everyone far and wide with no restrictions. This is distinct from how the commandment to love others appears in the Torah, the Hadiths, and other religious expressions, where the wording of "brothers" or "neighbours" and the context tells us it is meant to be practiced by Jews toward other Jews or Muslims toward fellow Muslims, etc. The ethic of Jesus is more expansive, inclusive, and universal. In fact, for his Torah-observant fellow Jews, Jesus uses the story of the Good Samaritan to redefine "neighbour" as anyone we have the opportunity to love, including our enemies.
Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD. ~ Yahweh (Leviticus 19:18; also see surrounding verses)
And yet, elsewhere God says:
Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt. ~ Yahweh (Exodus 23:9; also see Deuteronomy 10:19)
Apparently the seeds of the Golden Rule were planted in the Torah, but it would take Jesus to water them and make the Golden Rule central and universal in application.
"Just as God makes the sun shine on the good and the evil and the rain fall on the just and unjust, so the love of the followers of Jesus cannot be restricted to an exclusive group." ~ Jeffrey Wattles (The Golden Rule)
Do also the same. The Golden Rule is active (unlike the passive Silver Rule). There is a proactive "doing" involved. This Greek word for "do" (poieó, pronounced: poy-eh'-o) also means "to make". The Golden Rule is creative; it generates, produces, causes and calls love into being in every situation and relationship. It is this other-honouring act of blessing that is the real "making love". Sex does not make love; it makes babies. At its best, sex expresses love, but it does not create it. Practicing the Golden Rule, however, is literally love-making, love creating, love producing. And this creative verb is once again in ongoing present tense. The Golden Rule is forever and for always.
This is the Law and the Prophets. "The Law and the Prophets" refers to the entire Hebrew Scriptures, our "Old Testament". Jesus sums up the entire Hebrew Bible with just 15 Greek words. If we don't see other-honouring love as the ultimate lesson of the Bible, Jesus says we're reading it wrong. This phrase also alerts us that Jesus is moving into his conclusion of the sermon. Jesus uses the same phrase in Matthew 5:17, which launches the main body of the sermon. Here Jesus uses the phrase again to form an inclusio, a kind of rhetorical bracket or bookend that sections off the main body of the sermon. The Beatitudes and the salt and light sayings were the prologue, and after the Golden Rule will come some warnings that form the epilogue. The main body of the message, from 5:17 to 7:12, has been an extended discussion about real righteousness, and how to live by love rather than law. In other words, how to be perfect (5:48). Notice that Jesus isn't teaching the Golden Rule as though he happened to discover this moral maxim floating in the air. Jesus is speaking with authority, telling us what is the summation, the essence, the core and crux of all of Israel's scriptures. This became the basis for the apostle Paul making the same point:
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. ~ The apostle Paul (Romans 13:8-10)
For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself." ~ The apostle Paul (Galatians 5:14)
"In the end, this saying reminds us that Jesus was bold enough to believe God had given him insight into what the main thing was, what the real heart of God's will for humankind was all about." ~ Ben Witherington III (Matthew)
"Whatever you could reasonably desire of him, supposing you were in his circumstances, do that to the uttermost of your power, to every person on earth." ~ John Wesley (The Sermon on the Mount)
CONFESSION
(Personal reflection)
I confess that I have used the Golden Rule selfishly. It's easy to do.
If my moral maxim is that I'm going to treat others the same way I want to be treated, I just remind myself (or, convince myself) that I would like to be left alone. After all, I'm an introvert. And since that's what I would prefer, I now feel justified by Jesus to leave everybody else alone.
So I end up using the rule designed to help me proactively and lovingly engage with others as my God-given excuse to do the opposite. Yes, the text could be interpreted the way I want. Yes, this is a technical loophole anyone can exploit. But no, this is not the intent of Jesus, and deep down I know better.
Earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus goes to great lengths to teach us not to interpret and apply the Old Testament law legalistically, but to always ask, what is the intent, the spirit of the law, the reason behind the rule, and follow that. How silly it would be if, after learning from Jesus not to read the Mosaic Law legalistically, we then begin to read his own teaching legalistically.
But that is precisely what I have done. I have, like a law-abiding religionist, sliced and diced this rule into virtual incoherence, impotence, and irrelevance.
I have to remind myself that the Golden Rule is not technically a "rule". We gave it that name. This is a principle of love that is meant to be applied relationally, not religiously.
When something is viewed as a rule or a law, it provokes within us a loophole mentality. Law tempts us into debates about the fine print. (If you haven't heard me talk about my experience driving on the autobahn, ask me about it sometime.)
Laws are not about changed hearts, which is the basis of the New Covenant, but about controlling behaviour, regardless of our inner attitude. To frame the Golden Rule as a "rule" is to misuse and disempower the teaching of Jesus. The way of Jesus is a bomb - a holy hand grenade - meant to blow up all religious thinking. But when we treat this explosive teaching like religious thinking itself, we dismantle the bomb and put it on a shelf in a display case in the museum of quaint religion.
Let us say: Not on our watch. Let us steward the New Covenant well.
Anyhoo...
He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. ~ The apostle Paul (2 Corinthians 3:6)
Legalism always kills love.
By contrast, what we call "the Golden Rule" is more of a vision for living out a virtue ethic of love from the heart, inspired by the Holy Spirit. As Jonathan T. Pennington suggests in his excellent book, The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing, perhaps we should call it "the Golden Virtue".
John Wesley wrote about the necessity of love as our guiding force when proactively practicing the Golden Rule in his sermon about The Sermon on the Mount:
"Believe in Jesus Christ and your faith will work by love. You will love the Lord your God because he has loved you. You will love your neighbour as yourself. Then, it will be your glory to exert and increase this love; not merely by abstaining from what is contrary to it, every unkind thought, word, and action, but by showing all that kindness to every man which you would have him show you." ~ John Wesley (1703-1791)
Laws are rigid, and their rigidity is what teases us to find their loopholes. But principles, like plans, must take new shape as they encounter reality. I've heard that the military has a saying, "No plan survives first contact with the enemy."
This can be applied to many areas of life. No sales program survives contact with all customers; no parenting plan survives contact with all teenagers. Etc.
Improvisation. Intuition. Imagination. Love is pliable, malleable. It moves more like water than stone, around obstacles and into cracks and crevices. The Golden Rule is an expression of love, not law, and so it manifests in moment-by-moment adaptive wisdom, not never-changing moral legalism.
The way of love (Greek, agapé) that Jesus leads us in is the experience and expression of unconditional value; the choice to honour someone in attitude and action; the will to work for the good of someone we hold as precious. Love is an expression of honour which includes emotion and action, but is deeper than either alone. Love involves our entire psyche - intellect, emotion, and will. Love is an act of whole persons reaching out to whole persons. (For more on love, see our previous study.) As we walk with Jesus, apprenticing in his teaching and example, we will learn to recognize and internalize divine love and it will lead us into identifying the best way to apply all of Christ's teaching, including the Golden Rule.
The Jesus way has no script, playbook, no rulebook, but is more like comedic ensemble improv. We make instinctive, spontaneous choices together for the good of all. But that spontaneity comes along with practice. When we train our hearts in the ways of love, we can act and react in specific situations with sharpened instincts rather than trying to follow a playbook, rulebook, or script. (For those of us meeting regularly in one of our small churches, this is precisely what we are practicing.)
COMMENTARY
(Thoughts about meaning and application)
What has made the Golden Rule so popular? And why does Jesus' expression stand out from all others? Here is a "Top Ten" list of reasons why Jesus' Golden Rule is uniquely powerful. Some of these points review what we have already touched on, while others contribute something new.
The Golden Rule is...
1O. ACCESSIBLE
9. INTERCONNECTED
8. UNIVERSAL
7. ACTIVE
6. INITIATING
5. EMPATHETIC
4. INTROSPECTIVE
3. TRANSFORMATIVE
2. IRRELIGIOUS
1. INCOMPLETE
Let's expand briefly on each of these ideas...
10. ACCESSIBLE AND INCLUSIVE FOR ALL
The Golden Rule is beautiful in its simplicity. Far from complex, it is one of the most simple moral imperatives humans have. Simple, but not simplistic. Like the motto for the board game Othello: A minute to learn... A lifetime to master. Children can grasp it and apply it, while adults can continue to study its depths. As mentioned earlier, parents often introduce some form of this principle to their children at a young age, often in the negative when they have done something unkind. We don't have to be particularly educated or intelligent to begin to practice the Golden Rule, and yet, as we continue to grow in our education and experience, we never outgrow the Golden Rule. And because Jesus says it sums up the Law and the Prophets, it makes all of God's will for our lives up to that point simple, accessible, and doable.
The Golden Rule is not only accessible for the educated and uneducated, the young and old, it is accessible to believers and nonbelievers alike. If we remove its two roots - the "Therefore" at the beginning and the "Law and the Prophets" bit at the end - what is left has no reference to God and can be practiced by all people of every religion or no religion. Although Jesus addressed this teaching to his disciples, and being a disciple of Jesus will help us live out the fullness of this principle (see point 3 below), all people are image-bearers of God and can begin to apply this teaching to their daily lives.
"The entire will of God is about learning to love others." ~ Scot McKnight (Sermon on the Mount)
"Intuition frees the less-educated person from intellectual subservience to scientific, philosophic, and religious elites. Thanks to intuition, the mind of each person can participate in a given realm of experience, without having to submit to whatever dogma may be backed up by impressive argument." ~ Jeffrey Wattles (The Golden Rule)
9. INTERCONNECTED WITH GOD AND OTHERS
Even though context always matters, in this case context is crucial. The Golden Rule summarizes the best of Scripture ("the Law and the Prophets"). If the Bible is not helping us love others better, we're reading it wrong. Moreso, the "therefore" connects the Golden Rule directly to Jesus' teaching on living the Spirit-filled life of love for all people, even our enemies. It is an expression of faith expressing itself through love (Galatians 5:6). As an expression of divine love flowing to and through us, the Golden Rule stands apart from all other lesser expressions.
As the saying goes, "Often imitated, never duplicated."
8. UNIVERSAL IN APPLICATION
Unlike some religious and philosophical expressions of the Golden Rule which limit its application to people of the same faith, family, or tribe (e.g., the Jewish and Islamic versions, where "neighbour" or "brother" refers to those of the same religious and/or ethnic group), the Golden Rule of Jesus is meant to be applied to everyone everywhere always, friend or foe.
The Golden Rule is about how we should treat everyone.
7. ACTIVE NOT PASSIVE
The Golden Rule is expressed positively, as something we do, not something we avoid doing. This can change relationships, and eventually the world. And this action is future focused, not stuck in the past. It anticipates rather than remembers. Jesus does not say, "Do to others what others have done to you." Jesus has already rebuked that eye-for-an eye payback principle. Rather, the Golden Rule is filled with hope, that no matter what has already happened, we can imagine a better future.
6. INITIATING NOT REACTIVE
Not only is the Golden Rule active, it is proactive rather than reactive. We can all go do it now, not wait for someone to give us a reason to respond. This is a key factor in its world-changing power.
5. EMPATHETIC NOT ABSTRACT
Jesus is teaching us to pay attention to others around us. The Golden Rule moves us out of self-centredness into other-centredness. It is, what some philosophers call, decentering. Living this way is the cure to our narcissistic self-absorption that is regularly reinforced by social media, consumerist culture, and our own fallen flesh.
While sympathy means feeling for someone, empathy means feeling with someone. Some psychologists suggest that pity, sympathy, and empathy are stages most people move through in order to achieve and express genuine heartfelt compassion in action.
Because the Golden Rule is empathetic, it is connected to emotion and imagination. To practice the Golden Rule, we have to emotionally put ourselves in someone else's shoes, to imagine being them, and this mental practice helps remind us that others are real people deserving of our attention, compassion, and love. Other people are not just avatars or NPCs in the video game of our lives. We are not the centre of the story. We share space and share importance with everyone else around us.
People are not a means to an end,
they are the end to which we are called to serve.
In his Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) claimed to improve on the Golden Rule by what he called the Categorical Imperative: "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." He believed that his Categorical Imperative was rooted in reason, which is superior to Jesus' Golden Rule which he rightly identified as being rooted in emotion, intuition, and empathy. Kant felt that human emotion can be too easily flawed, forgetting that the same can be said about human reason. While Kant sought a rational universalism, Jesus emphasized relational empathy. (I have more thoughts about Jesus and Kant which I have already shared here, in the confession section. And for more on other ways Jesus' moral philosophy is unique, see the commentary section here.)
4. INTROSPECTIVE AND INTUITIVE
While the Golden Rule helps us look out for others, it simultaneously encourages us to look in to truly know ourselves. In its rudimentary form, the Golden Rule is predicated on self knowledge rather than divine knowledge. We are to listen to ourselves to figure out our next moral move toward others. Rather than asking "W.W.J.D." (What would Jesus Do), Jesus himself trains us to ask, "W.W.I.W" (What Would I Want?). In order to figure out the next right thing, Jesus trusts his disciples to consult, not their religious leaders or holy texts, but their own holy hearts and minds.
Jesus is a humanist par excellence.
"A certain faith in humankind is expressed by inviting people to take their own desires for being well treated as a clue for how to treat others." ~ Jeffrey Wattles (The Golden Rule)
3. TRANSFORMATIVE (Dang, I couldn't find another good vowel-starting word)
Doing the inner work of the Golden Rule will change us. It will train our hearts in the other-centred, self-sacrificial, enemy-embracing love of Christ.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. ~ The apostle Paul (Romans 12:2)
The Greek word translated "transformed" here is metamorphoó, from which we get our English word, metamorphosis. A caterpillar eats and eats and eats, sometimes devastating and even destroying the plants and trees that give it life. What a picture of narcissistic self-centredness. But as a butterfly, this same creature goes from flower to flower, pollinating, bringing life and growth into the world. When we are transformed by the regular practice of Christ-like love, we will become our butterfly selves.
"Whoever practices the golden rule opens himself or herself to a process of change. Letting go of self to identify with a single other individual, or with a third-person perspective on a complex situation, or with a divine paradigm, one allows a subtle and gradual transformation to proceed, a transformation with bright hope for the individual and the planet." ~ Jeffrey Wattles (The Golden Rule)
And when enough people experience the mental shift that only the Golden Rule can bring, entire societies can be transformed.
It was the Golden Rule that motivated the first recorded public protest to end slavery in the American colonies. Four Quaker men in Pennsylvania drafted the Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery in 1688, basing their argument on the Golden Rule.
“There is a saying, that we shall do unto others as we would have them do unto us – making no difference in generation, descent, or color. What in the world would be worse to do to us, than to have men steal us away and sell us for slaves to strange countries, separating us from our wives and children? This is not doing to others as we would be done by; therefore we are against this slave traffic.” ~ The Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery (1688)
Later, multiple books were written against slavery, all appealing to Golden Rule thinking. And, although he never explicitly mentioned the Golden Rule, Abraham Lincoln used Golden Rule reasoning in many of his speeches to advocate for the end of slavery.
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master." ~ Abraham Lincoln
And the rest, as they say, is history.
2. IRRELIGIOUS
The Golden Rule stands above all the rules, regulations, rituals, and routines of religion.
Think back now to our first point about accessibility. Because the Golden Rule operates on the level of moral intuition rather than detailed study of Scripture, tradition, and theology - indeed, it sums up the best of all three - it frees common believers from the tyranny of religious, philosophical, or academic elites. Religion thrives on hierarchy. The Golden Rule makes religion redundant because it is the everyman's ethical guide.
Those of us who have grown up in the Church know all too well those religious arguments in which every party tries to outdo the other in using scripture or theology to back up their point of view. The most biblically educated will warn, "You can't trust your intuition because emotions can be manipulated and manipulating. You have to trust Scripture." Except, by "trust Scripture" they really mean their interpretation of Scripture, which can be equally manipulated and manipulating.
In discussions about ethics, the Golden Rule demolishes the hierarchy and levels the playing field. It is ultimately irreligious, equalizing, and anti-elitist.
The Golden Rule also resists the monitoring and enforcement of religious legalism in ways that the Silver Rule cannot. Negative behaviour can be more easily identified, exposed, and chastised by religious authorities. (Notice how many Torah Laws are expressed in the negative, "Thou shalt not". As for the Ten Commandments, I think you'll find it's 8/10.) In fact, most of the laws of the land are designed to help prevent or punish the doing of bad things, that is, breaking the Silver Rule. But it is impossible to legislate the Golden Rule. There is no way for it to become a law of the land enforced by policing, or a law of religion enforced by tradition.
We cannot force people to be loving, we can only plead, persuade, and offer a compelling picture of what a loving life could look like. The Golden Rule transcends the way of Law. Religion stewards all the "thou shalt nots". Jesus invites us into a life of action-initiated, other-centred, self-sacrificial, life-giving love.
The Silver Rule is about justice. The Golden Rule is about love.
"This rule liberates the church from the reign of experts. In Jesus' time people were often counseled to ask sages, rabbis, and seers what to do. But Jesus says, in effect, 'In personal relations, all that believers need usually consult is their own feelings - how would we like to be treated in this situation?' ... This liberation from expertise - into a certain personal autonomy - is another of Jesus' gifts in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus gives us the Father in the Lord's Prayer; he gives us ourselves in the Golden Rule." ~Frederick Dale Bruner (The Christbook)
"it was certainly clever of Christ to state it this way. The only example He sets up is ourselves. ... The book is laid into your own bosom, and it is so clear that you do not need glasses to understand Moses and the law. Thus you are your own Bible, your own teacher, your own theologian, and your own preacher."
~ Martin Luther, 1483-1546 (Sermon on the Mount)
1. INCOMPLETE
One more thought here: On its own, without the spiritual connection and partnership implied by the "therefore", the Golden Rule in isolation is not the ultimate ethic for Christians. For that we need the Platinum Rule or the Platinum Principle. Let's expand on this.
The Golden Rule gets us a long way toward living the loving life. But it is too open to misunderstanding and misapplication. For instance, a missionary could reason: "If I was a heathen, I would want someone to convert me to Christ, so it is therefore the loving thing to do to remove indigenous children from their homes and raise them in a residential school where we can teach them how to grow up to be good Christians." This is a deformity of the love Jesus teaches.
So the Golden Rule only works, really works, if it is tied back to Jesus' teaching on being filled with the Spirit and walking in step with the Spirit's leading. Ultimately, the Jesus Way is never a matter of following rules, even the Golden Rule, it is a matter of listening to his voice day by day, moment by moment, situation by situation.
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ~ JESUS (John 10:27)
Perhaps we should think of the Golden Rule as the John the Baptist of biblical ethics. It is the best of the Old and a transition into the New. After all, Jesus said that the Golden Rule sums up the Law and the Prophets. And about John the Baptist Jesus says:
Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. ~ JESUS (Matthew 11:11)
John was the herald of the Kingdom of Heaven come to earth, but he was not technically a citizen of it during his lifetime. John was the last of the Old, not the first of the New. He was the transitional prophet, and in one sense, the Golden Rule is the transitional rule. For a fully New Covenant ethic, we need a New Commandment.
Now, this way of thinking can be misunderstood. It walks right up to the line of one false view of the entire Sermon on the Mount - that it was just a transitional ethic for Jesus' first-century followers and is not meant for Christians today. This was a convenient way of thinking that allowed the Church at times in her history to ignore Jesus' peace teaching about nonviolence and enemy love. But Jesus says the process of discipleship means always teaching people how to follow "everything I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:20). So, Christians should still make use of the Golden Rule, just not in isolation. That's what the "Therefore" is there for.
As discussed, the Golden Rule begins with a "Therefore" that ties it immediately back to receiving, finding, and entering into more and more of God's Holy Spirit and his good gifts. That is the Christian version of the Golden Rule - treating people the way we would want to be treated in communion with the Holy Spirit.
Through the Holy Spirit, we experience more of the heart and mind, the presence and power of Christ (Matthew 28:20; John 14:16-18, 26; 16:13-14; 17:26; Acts 16:7; 1 Corinthians 2:16; Galatians 4:6; Philippians 1:19; etc). Without the Spirit, the Golden Rule is incomplete.
Jesus makes this explicit when his earthly life and time with his disciples is coming to a close. That's when Jesus gives his disciples a new command, a love upgrade, what we might call the Platinum Principle. This teaching moves our love of others from being self-referential to Christ-referential.
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. ~ JESUS (John 13:34-35; also 13:15; 15:12-13)
Everything in the Bible is either leading up to this or flowing out from this.
Jesus couldn't have taught his disciples the Platinum Principle in the Sermon on the Mount because they didn't yet know how much Jesus would love them. Instead, he saves this teaching for the end of his time with them, after teaching them about his upcoming death and washing their feet (even the feet of those who would betray and deny and desert him). Only at the end could this new command, the Platinum Principle, even make sense.
Through the Platinum Principle, Jesus is not abandoning the Golden Rule, but fulfilling and expanding it.
The Platinum Principle moves us from the question "How would I like to be treated if I were in that person's place?" to "How have I been treated by Jesus?" Our mental focus, our daily alignment, our moment by moment meditation is on God's love for us first.
As we said in our last study, many people debate whether humans are ultimately good or ultimately bad, but the only thing we ultimately are, is loved.
For some of us, ideas make more sense through pictures than words. Here is one way we could graph what we're saying.
A. False Religion: Devotion to God (or Allah or Enlightenment or whatever is Ultimate) is everything and often comes at the cost of love for other people being so secondary it might as well be nonexistent.
B. Old Covenant: Give love to God first, then give love to others too.
C. New Covenant: Receive God's love first, then give that love to others.
Jesus' New Covenant way of loving also runs through the rest of the New Testament:
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. ~ The apostle John (1 John 3:16)
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ~ The apostle John (1 John 4:11)
We love because he first loved us. ~ The apostle John (1 John 4:19)
Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. ~ The apostle Paul (Ephesians 5:1-2)
Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. ~ The apostle Paul (Romans 15:7)
We thank God for his love and praise God for his goodness by reaching out to others with arms of acceptance. That is how we worship. To paraphrase Ziggy Marley:
Love is our religion.
I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ~ JESUS (John 13:15)
CONCLUSION
(One last thought)
Will Durant was a Pulitzer Prize winning academic who devoted over fifty years of his life to writing about history and philosophy. He was not attracted to the Christian religion, but he was attracted to Christ. Near the end of his life, he wrote:
"If I could live another life, endowed with my present mind and mood, I would not write history or philosophy, but would devote myself to establishing an association of men and women free to have any tolerant theology or no theology at all, but pledged to follow as far as possible the ethics of Christ."
~ Will Durant (Fallen Leaves)
An association of people pledged to follow the ethics of Christ. Sounds like a good idea. Are you in?
CONTEMPLATE
(Scripture passages that relate to and deepen our understanding of this topic)
John 13:34-35; 1 John 3-4
CONVERSATION
(Talk together, learn together, grow together)
What is God revealing to you about himself through this passage?
What is God showing you about yourself through this passage?
The Golden Rule is rooted in the guidance of Scripture and the Spirit of Christ. How is your personal root system doing? What is one thing you could do to strengthen both of these points of connection?
What is one thing you can think, believe, or do differently in light of what you are learning?
What questions are you still processing about this topic?
CALL TO ACTION
(Ideas for turning talk into walk)
Read. Look at John 13:34-35. Then write down all the ways you can think of that Jesus has loved you. Then, beside each point, write down (or talk about) one example of how you could love others similarly.
Think. Discuss the following examples of application and then see how many of your own examples you can brainstorm. "I enjoy being genuinely complimented or encouraged by others, so I should pay attention to what those around me are doing well and have the courage to share with them what I notice." "I love to look at, listen to, or read beautiful things, so as much as it is in my power, I should create beauty." "I desire health for myself, so wherever I can, I should promote health and wellbeing for others." "I find loneliness saddening, so I should think about and check in on those who might be lonely." Alright - your turn!
Act. Do one of the actions talked about in #1 or #2 above. Like, right now. Before you forget. Go on. We're done here. Stop reading and skedaddle. Scoot. Vamoose. Hit the road Jack. Make like a drum and beat it. Make like a baby and head out. Make like a cow and mooove on. Make like a shepherd and get the flock outta here. You get the point.
This is one of the best articles I have read as it resonates with a slogan I recently shared with a pastor.
People-Centered. Jesus-Central. Christ-Becoming PaulC