The Golden Rule - Devotion for 9/6/07

The Golden Rule – Devotion for 9/6/07

Have you ever noticed that there is no promise or guarantee associated with what is known as the “Golden Rule” – “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”? That sounds great and all, but like I said, there is no promise or guarantee that just because you treat them the way you would want to be treated that they are going to do it. So what makes this rule so “golden”? Yes, I know that by living up to it we are storing up treasures in heaven, and no I don’t mean to demean that – but as far as life on earth goes, sometimes it is really, really difficult to treat others the way I would want (and expect) to be treated. So who came up with the idea that this particular bit of wisdom would be called the “Golden Rule”? And why does virtually everyone know this particular rule, but so few live up to it?

I think the idea to call it the “golden rule” derived from the element of gold (Au for all you science geeks). Gold, as you know, is a precious metal and it is precious because it is rare and has high economic value. It’s high economic value comes from how difficult it is to find, and once found, all the different ways it can be used. Gold is usually found as a nugget or vein in the midst of rock. To obtain pure gold, many times one has to mine down into hard rock, and once a vein has been found, it then has to be chipped out, separated, and purified – quite an extensive process. Sometimes people can luck out and find gold in the bottom of a river where the water has naturally eroded away the rock and left pieces of gold – but to find said gold is like finding a needle in a haystack. I think the level of difficulty of acquiring this precious metal sheds some light on the level of difficulty of living up to the “golden rule.”

It is not supposed to be easy to “treat others the same way you want them to treat you” (Luke 6:31). I don’t think it is supposed to be easy. There is no guarantee that just because you are kind to your enemy that your enemy will be kind to you. I’m a dog lover, and at one point in my life I dealt with a lot of dogs as I worked for the electric company, and part of my job was to go to houses and cut off the power if they had not paid their bill. I dealt will all kinds of dogs in my job, and I learned that most dogs, even the meanest ones, if you treated them kindly that they would befriend you. One day I was to cut off the lights at a house the had a fence around it, and inside the fence was a large, mean Doberman Pinscher. Although the dog was barking and growling furiously at me, I began to try to talk to him through the fence. I got him calmed down enough, so I reached over to let him smell my hand, and he did, so it seemed like we were on good terms. Suddenly that dog turned and clamped down onto my hand, and now I was the one howling. So I punched him with my other hand. I didn’t have a problem with the dog after that, and I was able to do my job, but I was angry at myself for even trying to be nice to that dog. My coworkers would have just sprayed the dog with our “dog mace” and gone in to do the job, but I wanted to show kindness. And because I had been bitten, I became bitter – not at the dog, because the dog was only trying to protect his territory. I became bitter at myself for trying to live up to that “golden rule.” If you try to live up to the “golden rule,” it will get hard, and you can become bitter, because you will get bitten. But just because we get bitten doesn’t mean we should continue to try. “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36).