Being
Golden
“Do
nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard
others as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own
interests, but the interests of others.”
Philippians 2:2,4
“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
In
Arizona’s Superstition Mountains, is a gold mine that no one has yet
found. It’s the Lost Dutchman’s Mine.
The Dutchman, when he died, left some clues and riddles as to where the mine is
located. As far as anyone knows, no one
has found the mine. Many have even lost their lives in search for this valuable
gold mine. Gold is something that has value, but we too can have value to
others. The Bible has many great pieces of advice that, if followed, will make
us golden to others.
First,
we need to become selfless people. Have
you ever been around someone who only cares to do what they want? People who are focused only on themselves
push away others because we too have things we like to do. When we focus on others we show that we care
about them. It doesn’t mean we have to
only do what our friends want, but we need to care about what others care
about. Make sure though, that you are
genuine about it because we can pick out the fake person too. Attitude about it is important.
Second,
humility is important. Humility is to know
that we have faults and we need to have an attitude that shows that others are
better than we are. What are your faults?
Do you know them? We know that
imperfection runs deep in everyone and so we have no right to judge others
about their faults when we ourselves have faults. Until we judge ourselves and become perfect,
we should just be thankful for the love of Christ and love others the same as
Christ loved us. He loved us even though
we were sinners and even died for us.
What greater love is that!
Finally,
we are to look out for our interests too, but we need to do it in a way that
also considers others. In business and
in life we may try to run over others in our race to the top or to get what we
want, hurting those around us along the way.
Getting ahead in business and life is not a problem, but how we get
there can be. Showing leadership is not
getting what we want by force and taking out others (not clear to me) it’s the
ability to gain followers. When we make
friends, and help others along life’s pathway we gain friends, followers, and
helpers when life can be hard on us.
Sometimes even the long way to get what we want, can be the right way. The world says get what you want by any means
possible and don’t care about others along the way. Yet when you hurt people
and tear them apart, you not only lose their respect, you lose the respect of
those who are watching you too. Most
importantly, you damage your Christian testimony.
The
golden rule found in Matthew 7:12 is still being taught to children today: “Do
unto others as you would have done unto you.”
This rule should still apply to everyone young and old today. Shouldn’t how you want to be treated be
reflected in how you treat others? If
you want to be a person of great value, treat others as if they have great
value. When I go shopping I love to go
to places that show great customer service.
I want the places I spend my money to value me and even if don’t get it,
I try to show care and respect to the workers there anyway. We may never find the Lost Dutchman’s mine,
but we can be people worth more than his gold mine, or any gold mine is.
All Scripture is from The New American Standard Bible copy write 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA
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