We all know the Golden Rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Said in another way, treat others in the same manner as you would like to be treated. Some even say that the Golden Rule can be considered an ethic of reciprocity. At the same time, this life value is found in most religions which makes it more universal than one might think.
In the book of Luke, Jesus is asked what must one do to receive eternal life? This is where Jesus presents one version of the Golden Rule, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." The person goes on to ask Jesus the rhetorical question of who is my neighbor? His answer to that question was simple - anyone in need is your neighbor. What do you do with that as a directive? How do you practice the Golden Rule?
Too often our driving context is based upon what we think is fair. Often fairness is used as the standard for how to function socially. Unfortunately, fairness is not an accurate or simple criteria. Fairness is devoid of mercy. Fairness is contrived concept because we are all different and what may be considered as fair may easily fall far short of what is needed or appropriate. In a sense it could be said that God isn't fair but rather metes out to each of us what will meet our needs versus equal and like portions to all.
In Galatians 6:7, we find scripture that points out that what we sow is exactly what we reap. Said in another way, you get what you give. While this sounds like an overly simplistic approach to life, it is actually a powerful directive that is more true that we would like to believe. If we were to abandon our disingenuous nature we would be able to admit that many of the elements in the landscape of our lives are here because we refuse to tell the truth to ourselves and in turn we are not truthful with the rest of the world. This can be seen with folks who are deeply committed to how they look and appearances. This pretense gets in the way of how we live out the Golden Rule.
We need only examine our lives to understand why things look the way they do. We are fascinated with how things 'show up' when life is actually more predictable than we realize. When we are ready to be happy beyond words and begin to sow those seeds of happiness, the work required is to prepare ourselves to step into that space is often overlooked. Sometimes this means that we have to let go of our concepts of success. This may even mean that we have to let go of that losing investment, that abusive relationship, or even that unfulfilling job that we hold as valuable. We think we know better.
In our arrogance, we think we know what success looks like. We think we have success figured out and what we have will magically transform into what we deserve. In our arrogance, we have a concept of what we deserve and how it should be delivered. We don't look into our hearts and acknowledge what we are holding that is expressing in our lives. Because we hold 'stuff' in our hearts, this is not allowing us to recognize the grace in our lives just waiting to be realized. How sad it is to see unrecognized grace.
What we think about we bring about. In our consciousness we construct the expressions that take form in our lives. This is part of the sowing process for our lives. We would like to believe that there is no relationship between our private inner thoughts and our life experience. In reality, there is a direct correlation. What we think about we bring about.
The 17th chapter of the book of Jeremiah in the 10th verse says it all. In an interesting fashion, this scripture removes the mystery that we place around the circumstances in our lives. According to this passage, there is no mystery - there is only that which makes sense. We live in a logical universe and this is the logic of spirit. The verse roughly reads: God will search the heart and examine the mind. God knows the hearts of humans and understands that is where the root of all things reside. Depending upon what is found in the heart, not what the pretense might be, but what is found in the heart is what will be displayed in that life. Manage the holdouts and doubts in your heart and prepare for the shift in your life.
God bless,
Rev Leon
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