Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets. Matthew 7:12

Remember the Golden Rule — “Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you”? That kind of rules out hatred, murder, and a host of evil things that you would certainly not ever wish upon yourself in your right mind. This goes hand-in-hand with returning good for evil, because who would wish evil upon themselves? If someone is acting in a hateful or vengeful way towards you, you would counter that with treating them well, because that’s how you would want to be treated.

I don’t know where I got this, but there was a time when I thought the golden rule was not in the Bible. Though it was an excellent idea, it was something that someone thought up. But in going through the Sermon on the Mount recently, there it was, staring me in the face. Not only did Jesus Himself deliver what has come to be called the “Golden Rule,” He said, “This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.” He said that only one other time and that was when He said all of the law and the prophets could be summed up in loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving your neighbor as yourself. So, do these two things and you won’t need your Bible. Well, not exactly, but you get what I mean.

I can’t think of anything more necessary in our current cultural climate around the world than this. Treat your enemies the way you would like to be treated. You want to be understood, then try to understand. You want to be respected for what you believe, then respect others for what they believe. Don’t want to be called names? Don’t call anyone else names.

Do you realize we can change the world this way? We change the playing field with a different response. Few are expecting us to respond with love and understanding, and often, they respond differently as a result, and you might even have a real conversation instead of a shouting match.

We here in the United States are five days away from the most contested election in my lifetime. How will we respond? We have an incredible opportunity to bring honor and glory to God by treating others the way we would like to be treated. What if we lived in such a way as to draw people to Christ and not away from Him?

Love your enemies; only followers of Christ have a good reason to.