Delafield Presbyterian Church

Phone: 262-646-2323

	Mail Us:	P.O. Box 180315
		Delafield, WI 53018

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Lenten Devotional

Sunday, April 6, 2003

5th Sunday in Lent

Scripture: Matthew 7:12

In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you."

-- Matthew 7:12

We conclude our look at Jesus' Sermon on the Mount today with the familiar words of "The Golden Rule."

If the Beatitudes are the preamble to this "Constitution for the Kingdom of God," the Golden Rule provides the summary statement. How can you summarize Jesus' teachings in these chapters? In everything, treat others not as you have been treated, but as you would wish to be treated.

It seems so simple, doesn't it? Yet somehow, when human passions get involved, this simple proverb gets a lot trickier!

In my first church, there was an elder who brought a proposed action to session -- one that seemed to the whole group to be very arbitrary, contrary, and rigid, and even mean-spirited. I couldn't understand why he would do such a thing, so I asked him about it. His answer was simple enough: "I did the same thing a few months ago," he said, "and I got criticized for it. Well, if it wasn't good enough for me, its not good enough for anybody."

So I asked him, "Do you think it was right that you got criticized?" "Of course not," he replied, "it wasn't fair." "Then do you really want to treat others unfairly, just because you were treated badly?" When we went back into the meeting, he withdrew his motion.

When our emotions get involved, the waters get murky. Yet the teaching is clear. How should you treat others in any given situation? Put yourself in the other persons' shoes. How would you want to be treated?

Its called extending grace to other people. As children of the God of all grace, how could we ever do any less?

Prayer:

O for a world where everyone respects each other's ways,

Where love is lived and all is done with justice and with praise.

O for a world where goods are shared and misery relieved,

Where truth is spoken, children spared, equality achieved.

O for a world preparing for God's glorious reign of peace,

Where time and tears will be no more, and all but love will cease.

-- Presbyterian Hymnal (1991), #386 (v. 1,2,5)