Do I Treat Others The Way I Want To Be Treated?

Calvin came up to me a while ago and said very seriously, "Mom, I don't know how to treat others the way I want to be treated". Really!? Hmm....

The fact is, he knew how he wanted to be treated, but admittedly had no clue how to translate that into how he should live with and respond to other people, in particular his brothers and sister.

Of course this made me think. He is not the only person in the room that has this problem, he was just more honest about it, in the very Calvin (some of you know what I mean) way that he thinks and talks.

I'm not talking about my other children, I am talking about me. I mean, if I'm honest with myself I know exactly how I want to be treated, it just doesn't always connect to others. To be honest with myself and with you, I want to be thought of in a certain way, spoken of a certain way, talked to a certain way. I want to be shown common courtesy, shared with, cared for, asked about, and treated with respect. The problem is... well I might want those things too much. That is clearly a problem and is manifested in whining, complaining, responding in anger or some such thing if I am not treated this way. But I think there is another problem that it far more subtle and easy to avoid confronting in my own life, and perhaps some of you have experienced it as well. That problem is not thinking that I should think of, speak of, speak to and about others the very same way I want them to do to me! I might not think anything of treating certain people with disrespect or disdain, but if they did that to me I would be upset.

How often do find yourself angry, dumbfounded, or frustrated with how rudely someone treated you, how bluntly and graceless someone spoke to you, or how indifferently someone spoke about you? Have you ever been just incredulous that you gave someone good counsel and they didn't listen? Maybe they mocked you? Rolled their eyes at you? Argued with you? Maybe they just belittled the counsel to others and went their own way anyway?

How about this question? How often have you rolled your eyes, argued, mocked, belittled, or did what you wanted anyway, when someone gave you counsel? How often have you treated someone rudely, spoken bluntly without grace, spoken about someone with indifference, treated someone as less than you? When doing these things we usually don't think to ourselves, I am not going to treat others the way I want to be treated. We know we ought to treat others the way we want to be treated. The Bible says it, our parents told this to us everyday of our lives, but it got lost in translation! We apply it to us, as in, we expect certain treatment from other people. But, we do not actively think of ways to treat others in the same manner. It does not come naturally and yet somehow we act as if it does!

I am discovering that I must be very purposeful if I am going to live out the golden rule. I need to think before I act and speak.

If I love God with all I am and my neighbor as myself through the wonderful sustaining grace of our loving Lord than I will treat others the way I want to be treated. That is what loving God and people looks like.