Matthew 7:12
So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which seems so distant in our collective memory now, unleashed many unexpected hobbies to help us overcome the isolation from lockdowns.

COVID-19 cyclists caused a worldwide shortage of bicycles. COVID-19 bakers surprised their families with creative confectionary delights. COVID-19 gardeners beautified their homes with their green fingers.

For me, it rekindled my love for plants. As a result, I once chanced upon a “how to” video on repotting plants. It was 30 min long, completely visual with absolute zero dialogue or commentary but it garnered tens of millions of “views”!

It was my confirmation from a YouTube moment that we have a deep natural longing for the “how to” – about anything and everything.

The popularity of “How to” social media content confirms this craze.

If there was a Jesus’ “how to” video or “hashtag” for the good life, it would be this: “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them.”

This is the raison d’etre or prince of laws that king Jesus taught his followers about the characteristics of God’s subjects.

Jesus’ teaching had two important sides: a corrective of what was wrong and a descriptive of what were right markers of God’s people.

Jesus’ diagnosis of Old Israel’s spiritual rot could be summarised as this one liner: “So much, so little.”

His eight Beatitudes revealed “so much spiritual pride” but “so little spiritual poverty” among his countrymen (5:1-13). Does that describe you and I?

His six examples of righteousness exposed so much Law-keeping but so little God-pleasing (5:21-48) in life. Does that describe your morality?

His three spiritual disciplines of giving, praying and fasting revealed so much external piety but so little internal purity (6:1-18). Does that describe your spiritual habits?

In their material needs, he castigated them for having so much of Mammon and worry but so little God and faith in him (6:19-34). Does that describe your attitude to money?

In their relationships, he rebuked them for practising so much self-centred judgementalism but so little God-centred judgement. Does that describe your relationships?

Jesus’ corrective of all our spiritual sins, moral lapses and relational brokenness boils down to our defective love of God expressed in our defective love for neighbor.

The back story to our defective love is found in passages such as these in Leviticus 19: “Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive one another. 12 Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.

13 “‘Do not defraud or rob your neighbor. Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight.14 Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord.

15 “‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. 16 “‘Do not go about spreading slander among your people.

Here is the punchline: “Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord.”

Notice that God’s high calling to love is caveated by a long list of “do nots’, which tells us we often have no clue about how to love our neighbor.

The “do nots” teaches us that God’s love is not merely the absence of ill-will to hurt or harm others but, supremely, the presence of goodwill to bless others.

This is the love God designed us to emulate in bearing his image. This was the high calling given to Israel but she failed.

This was the high calling Jesus, as the true Israelite, obeyed and fulfilled in his sacrificial suffering and atoning death on the Cross for loveless you and I.

For Jesus’ died proclaiming: “Father, forgive them they know not what they do.”

So, followers of Jesus should never get used to lightly absolving ourselves in our judgementalism-riddled relationships with superficial declarations of: “I didn’t mean to hurt you, I didn’t mean any harm.”

In fact, we might as well declare “we don’t mean anything” – with all our ill premeditated unloving thoughts, words or actions. That will be our universal caveat and eternal escape clause for all our heart sins!

Rather, we should honestly search our hearts to ask whether we have any intentionality to bless others.

In other words, we need to ask ourselves: is ours a “self-interested love” or an other-person-centred love?

Self-interested love is concerned about making us “look good” – that we never intended to hurt others.

Other-person-centred love, on the other hand, is more concerned about making us “do good” firstly in our hearts and, then, with our hands to sincerely bless others.

Jesus’ “do unto others what you have them do to you” is a most powerful cure for all our unloving thoughts, words and actions.

So, let us search our hearts and ask ourselves:

I didn’t intend to hurt or belittle my spouse’s sub-par efforts, but did I intend to bless them?

I didn’t intend to crush my child’s innocent spirit, but did I intend to bless them?

I didn’t intend to forget my parents’ many sacrifices, but did I intend to bless them?

I didn’t intend to take my friend’s kindness for granted, but did I intend to bless them?

I didn’t intend to badmouth my pastor, but did I intend to bless them? And the list goes on.

Would God find us riddled with so much self-interested love to look good, but with so little of ‘bless others’ love” to do good?

If our answer is more likely “yes”, it should point us ever more humbly and quickly to Jesus as Saviour, Lord and giver of selfless other-person-centred love.

When we trust in Jesus and turn to him, we will fulfil the high calling and experience the deepest joy of “do to others what you will have them do to us”.

PRAYER:

Heavenly Father, I confess I do not know how to love others. Stop me from justifying myself lightly whenever I hurt or harm others. I need you to love. I am hopeless at loving.

Save me and empower me by your Word and Spirit so that I can truly rise and live each day to simply bless my loved ones in my home and my neighbors – with my thoughts, words and deeds. Amen.