Matthew 7:12 (The Message)
12"Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them. Add up God's Law and Prophets and this is what you get.
Here is House Rule #11 - Treat Each Other Like You Treat Your Friends. This was sometimes called the Golden Rule (Luke 6:31). Another good Scripture that says basically the same thing is James 2:8 - "If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well;" Verse 9 of James, Chapter 2 says "but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors." Since we are believers in Christ and have received new hearts, we should be able to treat everybody the right way - with the love of Jesus. Verse 9 says if we show partiality we commit sin. I don't know about you but I don't want to show partiality of just treating my friends nice. I want to show everyone the love of Jesus.
If we study what Jesus said and how He acted among everyone He came in contact with, we should be the same way. Jesus lives in us; we should not have a problem with these verses. This is basically common sense to treat someone the way we would like to be treated. This is the Lord's rule and there are no exceptions. Jesus came to teach us what to know and believe. He also came to teach us not only how to treat each other as believers but how to treat all men. We have to change our old habits of just being nice to our friends but also be nice to the one at work who might "press our button." This means we don't have to act like they are acting but realizing their condition and think of what we would do if we were in their situation. Maybe find out a little more about them and be more understanding. They might be going through more than we realize and we could share the love of Christ with them.
Other people have put the "golden rule" in a negative sense but Jesus put it in the positive. I like the Message version because it says for us to "take initiative" and do things for others what we would like them to do for us. One definition for initiative is "a beginning or introductory step; an opening move." Another one is: "without prompting or direction from others; on one's own." Let us think and pray about how we treat others. Stop forming cliques in our churches, our work places, even our families. Treat each other with the love of Christ. Take the "initiative" and make the first step to include others. We need to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone.
