As much as I’ve generally played by them all my life, I’ve never really liked rules. They’ve always seemed confining, restrictive, something to be broken, meant for other people. I’ve spent my life convincing people that Christianity isn’t a bunch of rules to be followed, but rather a relationship with the Ultimate Ruler worthy of following. But on Saturday I re-read a rule I’ve been glossing over all this time: “do to others what you would have them do to you.”
Finally a rule I can follow … why? Why did the 4millionth time I’ve read the Golden Rule finally grab my attention? Because it’s not a rule prohibiting some behavior – it’s a rule promoting one. Because it’s not a rule telling me what I can’t do – it tells me what I can. Because it’s not a rule that pushes my flesh toward rebelling against something, it compels my heart toward participating with the Creator in the one thing He does perfectly: loving the people He created.
In usual Christlike revolutionary fashion, He spins the usual edition of this rule “don’t do bad things to people, because you wouldn’t want bad things done to you” into “love people so much (ALL PEOPLE) that you are driven to do good things for them like you would like good things done for you.” Now there’s a rule I’m more eager to fall in line with.
I guess one other reason the Golden Rule jumped out at me this time around came from the previous three days of pouring over who we are as a church with the staff. Together we returned to our mission of “loving, praying, and serving our communities into a life-long journey with Christ.” We returned to the foundational purpose we have of “loving God and loving people.” We returned to our core value of “life together: laughing, crying, unafraid to be ourselves.” We returned to the truth that “small things done with great love will change the world.”
As we return this week to Kamp Kerma, let’s let the rule stay golden in our lives by loving each other, loving God, and the world He died for. His rule (and reign) are worth following!