Word for the day by Christian Education Forum
Confession Three-day Lent
Golden Rule: Our Greatest CommandmentMatthew 7: 1-12
Vs.12: “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
I apologize for repeating this first paragraph from a prior devotional, but it is appropriate for today’s passage. For over 15 years, I have been working for The National Marrow Donor Program which runs Be The Match, the national blood stem cell/marrow registry of the United States. The organization’s mission is to save the lives of patients with blood cancers and blood disorders by educating and registering blood stem cell/marrow donors. I am proud to say many members of the Mar Thoma Church have registered at events hosted by our churches and a few fortunate people have donated their blood stem cells to save the lives of patients worldwide.
In recent years our organization has struggled with many potential donors being identified and informed of becoming a match for patients in need but ultimately saying no to donating. This is so devastating to the patient and those of us working within the organization. We have developed numerous strategies to mitigate this issue and I use every opportunity I have when speaking and lecturing to discuss the need for commitment. I have a usual closing “elevator pitch” for all my talks. I simply remind the audience that if it were their loved one who was diagnosed, wouldn’t they want the potential donor to say yes and save their life? If that is the case, why then cannot the same be asked of you…The Golden Rule!
The Golden Rule is the principle of treating others as one wants to be treated. Several expressions of this rule can be found in the principles of most religions: Judaism, Islam, Baha’i Faith, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, and of course Christianity.
The unique attribute of a Christian’s perspective of the Golden Rule is from Luke 10: 25-27, “25 An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.” This is the greatest commandment.
Most denominations view the greatest commandment as a singular commandment. You cannot have one without the other. You cannot genuinely love God without loving your neighbor, and you cannot genuinely love your neighbor without loving God. The subsequent parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus used shows us that our attitude must not be of the religious Levite or the pious Priest. We are commanded to be like the Samaritan who was hated by the Jewish robbery victim. Our golden rule to do unto others is because of the love we have for our God.
In 2014 I was blessed with the opportunity to donate my hematopoietic blood stem cells to a patient and save her life. I did it because we lost a good friend and church member to leukemia. I did it because this sinner “of whom I am the worst” was given the opportunity to love a neighbor and I hope when I leave this earth, I will have done more good than bad. More than anything, I did it because saying I love God and seeking His grace and forgiveness while not showing love to my neighbor affirms that I do not know what loving God truly means. Our golden rule is synonymous with our greatest commandment!
In recent years our organization has struggled with many potential donors being identified and informed of becoming a match for patients in need but ultimately saying no to donating. This is so devastating to the patient and those of us working within the organization. We have developed numerous strategies to mitigate this issue and I use every opportunity I have when speaking and lecturing to discuss the need for commitment. I have a usual closing “elevator pitch” for all my talks. I simply remind the audience that if it were their loved one who was diagnosed, wouldn’t they want the potential donor to say yes and save their life? If that is the case, why then cannot the same be asked of you…The Golden Rule!
The Golden Rule is the principle of treating others as one wants to be treated. Several expressions of this rule can be found in the principles of most religions: Judaism, Islam, Baha’i Faith, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, and of course Christianity.
The unique attribute of a Christian’s perspective of the Golden Rule is from Luke 10: 25-27, “25 An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.” This is the greatest commandment.
Most denominations view the greatest commandment as a singular commandment. You cannot have one without the other. You cannot genuinely love God without loving your neighbor, and you cannot genuinely love your neighbor without loving God. The subsequent parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus used shows us that our attitude must not be of the religious Levite or the pious Priest. We are commanded to be like the Samaritan who was hated by the Jewish robbery victim. Our golden rule to do unto others is because of the love we have for our God.
In 2014 I was blessed with the opportunity to donate my hematopoietic blood stem cells to a patient and save her life. I did it because we lost a good friend and church member to leukemia. I did it because this sinner “of whom I am the worst” was given the opportunity to love a neighbor and I hope when I leave this earth, I will have done more good than bad. More than anything, I did it because saying I love God and seeking His grace and forgiveness while not showing love to my neighbor affirms that I do not know what loving God truly means. Our golden rule is synonymous with our greatest commandment!
Prayer
Lord, remind us that our call to do to others as we would have them do to us is evidence of our love for You. AMEN.
Thought for the Day
“The first thing to get clear about Christian morality between man and man is that in this department Christ did not come to teach any brand new morality. The Golden Rule of the New Testament (Do as you would be done by) is a summing up of what everyone, at bottom, had always known to be right.” - C. S. Lewis
Dr. Ron Jacob
Long Island MTC
Long Island MTC