Idiot's Guide To The Law

I liked the Golden Rule sermon from Duncan here very much:

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-3352775746253694898

There's one phrase he used that made it stick in my head more than most. First, let's review the "Golden Rule" from Matthew 7:12: "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

This, put quite simply by Duncan, is the Idiot's Guide To Following The Law. That's right, Jesus took all that Old Testament law and summed it up in this short, sweet, easy to remember phrase.

Note that there's an important point in the way its worded that we all too often ignore. It is not worded "So in everything, don't do to others what you would not have them do to you", but that is very often how we think of it. We think as long as we hold our temper back, or aren't rude to people, or we don't lie to people, or we don't steal from people, we're following this principle.

There's another bit in it. In this golden rule, we're not just told to refrain from doing bad things we don't want people to do to use, but we're also supposed to do good things that we would want people to do for us. That's a lot more difficult to do I think. Consider the following:

- Say there's a beggar on the street who really needs some food. Its pretty easy to not steal the money he's collected so far that day, but it takes a lot more effort to go across the street to the restaurant and get him something to eat.

- Say your boss is yelling at you about not submitting your TPS report on time. Its pretty easy to not slap him upside the head, but it takes a lot more effort to still tune in to what he's saying and legitimately try to understand the problem from his point of view.

- Say there's a kid at school who gets picked on all the time by your kid's friends. Its pretty easy for your kid to keep quiet and not pick on anyone himself, but it takes a lot more effort to stand up for the one getting picked on.

- And so on!

Easy to remember. Easy to understand. Difficult to do!