Luke 6:31

The Golden Rule

As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. Luke 6:31.

Boys and girls, did it ever strike you that we have all to live beside each other, and that if things are to go smoothly we must observe certain rules? Young people nowadays are trained to do all sorts of things to play in orchestras often with very fine results to use tools, to manage horses, to control fire and even lightning. That is all very good and interesting; but surely it is more important that you should learn how to manage other boys and girls learn, in fact, how to live beside them. You have brothers and sisters, schoolfellows, playfellows. How do you behave towards them?

“As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise” These words uttered by Jesus Christ tell us that He had thought a good deal about the behavior of people to one another. They are “wise words” and have been named the Golden Rule.

You have heard of an “unwritten law,” haven't you?

The Golden Rule is one of those acknowledged at most of our great public schools, and, when honestly acted up to, it results in a very fine type of boy. Occasionally, however, a mere caricature of it is found to be the standard of school behavior. You boys must have heard something like this “If you will back me up, I'll do the same to you.” That is no Golden Rule, is it?

You will notice it is not how your neighbors behave towards you that you are asked to imitate, but how you would like them to behave. And that is a difficult thing to do, although at first it seems easy. One really needs the help of God to observe the Golden Rule.

One evening an Indian chief was sitting by the fireside of a friend. They had been silent for a while, each one looking into the fire and thinking his own thoughts. At last the great chief asked his friend what he had been thinking about. “I have been thinking,” replied the other, “of something that was once said by the great Founder of the Christian religion, something so beautiful that we call it the Golden Rule.”

“Stop,” cried the chief; “say no more about its good qualities, but tell me what it is. Then I shall be able to judge for myself whether it be good or not.” “Very well,” said the friend, “I shall tell you. The rule is that men should do to others what they would wish others to do to them.” “That,” replied the Indian, “would be impossible.” He rose and paced the room for about a quarter of an hour, then he came to a halt before his friend. “I have been thinking of what you have told me,” he said. “There is one way, and one way only in which that rule could be kept. If the Great Spirit who made man were to give him a new heart, then it might be done not otherwise.”

Let me tell you of two people who practiced this rule.

One was a soldier, the great General Gordon. It was said that he never thought of himself in following his Divine Master. At Khartoum he was loved as a simple Christian man. On one occasion he was installed with a royal salute, and an address was presented to him. In return he was expected, to make a speech. His speech was as follows: “With the help of God I will hold the balance level.” That was fine, was it not? And in writing to his sister, he said, “Do you want to be loved, respected, and trusted? Then, ignore the likes and dislikes of man in regard to your actions; do to them as you would have them do to you... they may despise some things in you, but they will lean on you, and trust you, and God will give you the spirit of comforting them. But try to please men, and ignore God, and you will fail miserably, and get nothing but disappointment.”

The second person was a nurse one who gave her whole life to help sick people. Not only did she care for their bodies, she cared for their souls, she spoke to them about Jesus Christ. When people asked her how she could do so much, she said, “I try to put myself in the place of these poor men, see with their eyes, and feel their wants and difficulties as if they were my own; and then God puts into my heart the words which will reach their hearts.”

Once there was a terrible explosion in the city where she nursed, and many people were brought to her hospital. Somehow she succeeded in putting the right spirit into many of the poor sufferers. “Sister Dora,” one of them said, “I want to be dressed very bad, but if there's any wants you worse, go to them first.”

When Sister Dora died the people wanted to have a statue of her, “We want it,” they said, “so that when people ask, ‘Who's that?' we shall be able to say, ‘Who's that? Why, that's our Sister Dora.'”

One such little “sister” could bring a healthy tone into a whole school. You know how a bright sunny day helps to make the earth beautiful. It is in the power of every boy and girl to bring sunshine to help their brothers and sisters and companions, and, like Sister Dora, to heal and to make them happy.

Boys and girls, this is the true art of living with each other. Ask God to help you to practice it.