Midweek devotion - Hallmark - Luke 6:31

A short devotion on Christ's words from Luke 6:31 "Do to others as you would have them do to you."


 

Luke 6:31 Do to others as you would have them do to you. (NIV)

Mutual respect. Equal opportunity. Loving one another. Those are three teachable and reachable qualities that Christ encapsulates into this mind-blowing sentence:

‘Do to others as you would have them do to you.’

Many years ago, an old Scottish minister introduced me to this Bible verse and called it ‘The Golden Rule’ because it is basically taught by most religions throughout the world. It is also meant to be the hallmark by which Christians are recognized all over the Earth. Sadly, especially these days, that hallmark has been defaced and replaced with defiant un-Christlike words such as “Don’t tread on me,” or selfish, unbiblical phrases like “God helps those who help themselves.”

I find it deeply disappointing to come across Christians who are very selfish and insensitive to injustice. It makes me wonder what has made them so insecure and unsure about Jesus. His way of transforming human society was meant to bring out the best in us; however, we ended up idolizing the wrong things and, in the process, we have cast aside Jesus as the Liberator of our lives, choosing instead to embrace hostility, paranoia, conspiracies, and prejudice.

I believe we are at a significant crossroads today – not only as a nation, but as a worldwide faith. If we allow fear and falsehood, arrogance and indifference to publicly display our beliefs, then we will be called hypocrites and fools, driven by greed and power, defined as bullies and racists. People will walk away from our churches and reject anything we have to say. We will neutralize, marginalize, and stigmatize ourselves because of our failure to follow Christ’s path through selfishly pandering to our self-centered opinions, prejudices, and pride.

If we honestly believe ourselves to be Christians, then we will receive, embrace, and apply His teaching without polluting it with excuses, explanations, or exhortations that are definitely not what Jesus would ever have said or done. As always, the choice is ours to choose what is right or wrong; to select what our Savior says or to decide to follow something else. We will only have ourselves to blame for losing the world by pandering to our own souls.

Q: How do I display my faith in Jesus? Do others see Him or only me?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, forgive us for failing to follow You. Pardon us for permitting our prejudices to conceal Your truth and display our inhumanity. In Your Holy Name, we shamefully pray. Amen.

If you would like to respond to today’s devotion, just send me an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

God bless and be with you all.