In the book of Luke, chapter 6, Jesus teaches us about our attitudes and how we should live with others. It is here that He chooses the 12 people who will be His closest followers. He called them disciples. Disciples are learners. In this case, learners about Jesus.
We are all called to be learners of Jesus. It’s easier to follow Him when we are learners. It’s easier to be obedient to Him when we learn from Him. It is easier to hear His call when we are learners of Him. It is in being a learner that our faith in Him is perfected.
Perfecting our faith means we must first believe something so we can learn to believe more. So, in Luke 6, Jesus is teaching the disciples about the many times when they will have to go first, before being first can come to them. In Luke 6:31, He gives a well-known verse of scripture. He says to them, “Just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.”
We sometimes say it this way, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” All throughout chapter 6 of Luke, Jesus gives examples of how, as disciples of Him, we must learn to do to others what it seems unnatural to do. For instance, He says, if a man hits you on one cheek, turn and let him hit the other.
Well now, turning the other cheek, as we would say, doesn’t make any sense to us. If I am hit once by someone, it is not likely I will gladly say, “Here hit me again on this side.” So, what is Jesus getting at here? Well, I believe He is saying this to us: think about how you want to be treated by others, and you go first, treating them that way. Jesus wants us to learn more about Him in whatever our circumstances, then we will know what we need to know about man.
Jesus wants us to know that how we treat people usually comes back to us. And here is the key to what He is trying to get us to see. If we do not care about how we treat others, an uncaring way of being treated will come back to us. If you don’t care about how you are treated because you believe you are tough and can handle anything, then you cannot care about how you treat others. Caring about how you want to be treated is key to learning whether you can care about others.
So, what does it mean to care about how you want to be treated? Well Jesus teaches us that too in Luke 6:31. Caring about you means you have more concerns for how others are made to feel by you. It means the more you care for yourself, the greater you must care for others. Jesus is trying to teach us that how we make others feel is directly related to how much or how little, or how good or how bad we want to make ourselves feel.
If we do not care about how others make us feel because we are tough and we depend on ourselves to get through anything, then we will find it difficult to make others feel like we care about them. We will want others to grit their teeth and get through things just like we do.
Be careful in how you want to be treated by others. The word careful means to be full of concern for the well- being and for the good that is needed. What we are carful to do to ourselves is the same thing we will do to others. But is that what is best for others? Probably not. We are not the standard for how we should treat others. God is.
We must learn that we must go first in learning how we should act toward others. Going first means before we drink and make ourselves full, we let others drink. We take second in getting so we can be first in giving.
Going first means that before we say everything that comes to mind, we let others say the little that is on their minds. We say less so we can say more.
Going first means that before we grit our teeth and say we can handle anything, we let others handle the little things that may be hard for them to handle. We use our strength to support the weaknesses of others.
Going first means that before we say we don’t care about how others are made to feel, we let others tell us how they are made to feel by us. We care more for others so others can care more for themselves.
Jesus is always trying to teach us about us, so that we can really care about others. He is saying, it is not reasonable for us to want to be treated poorly. So, we must go first in learning how to treat others in great ways.
If the circumstances of life have made you sour in how you feel about how you are treated, you must learn that is not the norm. If you treat others with a sour attitude, you are saying to others, you don’t care about how you treat yourself.
Others will not respond to a sour attitude with a sour attitude in return. Because others care about how they treat themselves. Those who learn from Jesus will try always to treat you with a good that is better than the good in which they treat themselves.
As they want to be treated by others, so they treat others. You Go First.
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