A Matter of Perspective
Luke 6:31 Do unto others as you would have them do to unto you.
If there’s one rule in life that we know better than any other, and yet, that we break more than any other, it would have to be, the golden rule. Yep, you know it too.
Do unto others as you would have them do to unto you. (Luke 6:31)
It was something that Jesus said and the logic, the power of the golden rule is absolutely inescapable. You can’t argue with it. So why is it then, that we all break this rule, over and over, day after day? Let me show you how easy it is.
I had an odd experience the other day. I went to a new medical clinic for a yellow fever shot for an overseas trip. And of course, I’m a new patient so I have to give them my personal details. Fair enough.
So they make me stand at a computer in a busy hallway. It was on a bench just too high for me to type comfortably. I had to punch in my name, address, age … right through my life-long medical history.
Okay, it wasn’t ideal, but I’m computer savvy and I managed. Although, I couldn’t help but wonder how my eighty-seven year old mother might have coped in similar circumstances. Remember, this is a doctor’s surgery. They look after people.
Those are the thoughts going through my head as I’m pecking away at the keyboard.
And then, to add insult to injury, at the end of it all, the computer spits out, wait for this, a number. Great!
So I wander back to the receptionist and she asks me for, you guessed it, my number. For the last almost sixty years, my name has served as a perfect unique identifier for me. A perfect label, a perfect handle by which to identify me. But no, these carers they want me to quote a number!
So I say, through gritted teeth, with as much civility as one can muster at this point, “I didn’t write it down.”
That’ll fix her, she’ll have to ask me my name now. But she says, “That’s okay, the computer just SMS’d it to your phone.”
Grrr! I go to the doctor, just to be reduced to a number in their system. And the only thing this efficient, apparently uncaring receptionist wants to know about me is my number!
I wonder – how often do we treat other people like that, without even thinking about it? And that’s it, isn’t it? If only we stopped to think. If only we put ourselves in their shoes for a moment.
It’s all a matter of perspective.
Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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