Excerpt
“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.”
Matthew 7:12

Click here to read all of Matthew 7:7-12

Prayer
There it is, Lord, the famed Golden Rule, that which is so often quoted, referred to, and named. This is, perhaps more than anything else, the teaching that has given You the moniker of “good teacher,” even among those who are otherwise dismissive of You and Your mission.

How easily I can read right by this teaching! It’s so familiar. Old hat. Yet if I pause and begin to think about the implications of what You have said, I’m flooded with ideas. If I think about how I would like to be treated by my wife, then I have new ways to show my care for her. Ditto with my children, my co-workers, the person who served me in Starbucks, etc. etc.
Help me, dear Lord, to take to heart the simple directive: to treat others as I would like to be treated.
Questions for Reflection
In your life, whom do you need to treat as you would like to be treated?
What could you do today in response to Jesus’s teaching?
A Different Take on the Golden Rule
When I was about nine years old, my younger brother, Gary, hit me. I didn’t hurt too much, so rather than hitting back, I decided to teach him some good theology. “God doesn’t want you to hit me,” I said.
“No, it’s okay,” he answered.
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
“Do unto others as you would like to do unto them,” he said, confidently.
Sounds like a budding theologian, doesn’t it? Actually, my brother is a deputy sheriff in Los Angeles County. In the picture below, he’s the second from the right end.

This is my extended family last Thanksgiving. It will be very strange for my wife and children and me to not be with this group on Thanksgiving this year. Too far a drive from Texas! We’ll miss them, that’s for sure. But we’ll also be very grateful for them. Maybe distance will even enhance our appreciation. It’s so easy to take people for granted when you’re with them a lot.
Pray the Gospels 
Pray the Gospels is one of my two devotional websites. The other is Pray the Psalms. Both sites include a daily Bible reading from either the Gospels or the Psalms, along with a prayer and some additional thoughts or questions for reflection.