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The Golden Secret of Relationships
Brian Mashburn
October 1, 2006
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Jesus' Advice On Being Relational
Jesus tells us exactly HOW to be a relational person:
"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." (Mt 7:12)
"In everything..." Jesus is always so dramatic. He's so extreme. So uncompromising. In all the right areas, mind you...nonetheless, once He gives His followers an instruction, He means for that instruction to permeate deep into their DNA and revolutionize and define their entire lives.
"do to others..." Jesus is always so proactive. He's always initiating stuff with people. He "went" from Heaven to earth, He "chose" people to follow Him, He "sent" people to others, He "reached out" to touch folks, and the list goes on. Even when He's reacting to something in His life, He proactively uses it and transforms it into something useful for His purposes.
"what you would have them do to you..." Jesus is so "heartsy." To teach His followers how to go about His business in their lives, He goes straight to their hearts and uses their own desires and needs and wants to teach them with. He takes what could even be seen as "self-centered" ("what do YOU want from OTHERS, huh?") and simultaneously confronts selfishness and teaches how to be selfish ("then YOU give THAT to OTHERS").
"for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." Jesus is so simple. He takes what oftentimes seems like complex religious concepts (systematic theology, exegesis of the text, proper hermeneutic interpretation, Jewish sacrificial systems) and boils it down, or as He says, "sums it up," all of it...all of the Law and the Prophets in a way that every single human being can not only understand it, but follow it.
The end result? Well, if people will just simply listen and be willing, they will end up just like Christ, delivering to the world just what Christ did. Rescue. Love. Salvation.