Lesson Four: The Golden Rule
Devotion #5: Loving Others Anyways
Jazmine Serio
“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:12
Have you ever been in a friendship or any kind of relationship where you always go out of your way to love or support them just for them to turn around and hurt you, maybe even multiple times? Many times, our first reaction is to go back and hurt them or treat them the way they treated us. It is so easy to love people when they love us. Matthew 5:46 asks, “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?” We are called to live set apart. The world says to treat others the way they treat you or do not go out of your way for those who would not do that for you. However, Christ calls us to love one another. John 15:12-13 says, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
I serve in the student ministry at our Goodrich location. I help lead a group of 6th-grade girls during our Growth Community. We got on the topic of treating others the way you want to be treated. A few of the girls had said that if they are kind to someone, just for them to turn around and be mean, they do not think they should continue to be kind to them. I then asked them if treating them the way they treated you would make the situation better or worse. Do you stand apart from them, or are you just like them? Christ calls us to live set apart to be different from the world. If we go out of our way to love those who hurt us, we start to stand out.
I had someone close to me treat me poorly, and instead of turning around and hurting them back, I continued to love that person by sticking up for them when others close to them began treating them poorly. They then reached out to me and told me that after how they treated me, they did not deserve me sticking up for them or treating them with kindness. They added that I had every right to join in and speak poorly of them. If I am honest, it was difficult for me to show kindness toward this person who hurt me so badly; I could have easily joined in and treated them poorly after how they treated me. However, I treated them the way I would have wanted to be treated. If I had treated them the way they treated me, it would not be honoring God, and it would have created more hurt and pain on both ends. So, I want to encourage you to go out of your way for others who would not do it for you. Love those who are difficult to love and see what God does in and through you will be special.