WALKING GOLD


In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
(Matthew 7: 12 – NAS)


Jesus has just been talking about how ordinary people want to give good things to their children, using that as an analogy for how much God wants to give us good things. He makes that point that even “the evil” know how to do this for their children. In this verse, He extends that knowledge further out, inviting us to change our behavior not just toward our children but toward everyone we come in contact with.

“Treat people the same way you want them to treat you.”

The Golden Rule.

Other faiths tend to put it in the negative approach: do not do to others that which you would not want them to do to you. But that is a passive response to our fellow humans, and Jesus calls us to a positive, active engagement with those around us. Do onto others as you would have them do to you.

How well do we follow this?

Some of us manage to do it fairly well and rather consistently. The rest of us struggle along in fits and starts.

We do well enough treating our family and friends as we want them to treat us. We may even do the same with our co-workers, earning their appreciation for the respect we extend to them. But the less personal our relationship is with someone the less attention we pay to this instruction from the Lord.

Why do we find it so hard to be gracious to everyone we meet? Is it that we feel we might be bled of our strength if we give the unknown person we casually pass by a greater extent of courtesy? What is it that we fear we lose in being kind to strangers?

I’ve recently taken part in conversations discussing the etiquette of tipping. How much should one tip? Should one tip even if the service has been bad? There even seem to be practices of punitive tipping, where the patron will dock the servitor a certain amount, leaving the total of the tip at less than standard. Because, as someone pointed out, the tip is a gratuity, something given beyond obligation for service. The thing that disappointed me in this discussion was that most participants were applying this even to the service they would get in a common restaurant, where it is likely the wait-staff are not making high wages and genuinely need the extra that comes to them in tips. The judgmental mindset feels justified in declaring that if the service was bad, it is therefore legitimate to give the servitor a poor tip.

And those were believers saying that, people who claim to be followers of Christ.

“Do onto others as you would have them do to you.”

How easily we avoid that commandment when it comes to the small encounters of our lives! The waiters, the cashiers in stores, the other people in the grocery line, the other drivers on the freeway – they don’t know us, they’ll never see us again, we barely see them in the encounter, so why should the Golden Rule apply in such situations? Who’s to know?

The Lord.

The Lord knows.

If we know as individuals that the Almighty God considers us precious, that we are heirs to His kingdom, should we not cultivate the gracious manners of royalty?

But more than that, look around. Every face you see belongs to someone that is equally precious to God. Every person you see is so valuable to God that they may as well be Walking Gold.

The Golden Rule is not about doing something so that you can get something back – although that is a consequence. It is about recognizing the value of everyone around you. But we are stubborn, selfish creatures by nature, and the Lord knows this. So He instructs us in terms we can grasp: if you want to be treated as the Golden Creature that He has made you to be, you need to treat everyone else with that same respect – because it is true! They are those Golden Creatures in God’s eyes.

The Lord knows that I’m no saint. I try to follow the guidelines that He has given us, especially those in the Sermon on the Mount. But I don’t always succeed in remembering them. I can be as petty as the next person, as resentful and hostile to offenses against my dignity, brittle about things that make me anxious. Yet I find that the more I try to abide by this verse, the easier it becomes.

The simplest method is simply to pay attention to the people around me. We all hate to be ignored, to be treated as if we were part of the furniture. So I try to at least acknowledge the existence of the person I am passing by. The gift of a little courtesy costs me nothing but a minor effort, and yet gives the recipient that refreshing awareness that they have been seen and appreciated at least for that fleeting moment.

“In everything, treat people the same way you want them to treat you.”

How do you want to be treated in your interactions with others? I myself would rather receive attention, courtesy, generosity and appreciation. So that is what I try to give to others. Yet every day, I still see people – followers of Christ – treat the incidental people they encounter in life with indifference, inattention and dismissal. We all have our levels of self-protection and not engaging with unknown passers-by is one way we maintain our shields. And we are not all on the same level of spiritual development. I can be wise in one area that a friend is not, and yet still be an utter fool in an area that my friend handles with grace and elegance.

But we have to begin somewhere, when it comes to playing the part of being one of the Children of the Most High. If we assume that anyone we might encounter is also such a being, it is easier for us to treat them as one of the Walking Gold. For is that not how we want to be treated?