Friday, September 30, 2011

Nobody Wants Fool’s Gold

We have all had moments when we are utterly shocked at the words that come out of a person’s mouth, especially when the words are negative. “Can you believe she only worked one hour for the Festival? Doesn’t she know that isn’t enough?” This might sound familiar anywhere in America during Greek Festival season, but have you ever heard, “Isn’t it great? Even though she has so many things to do, she still found time to come help us for an hour!”


What’s the difference? In both cases she worked for an hour to help with the Greek Festival but in the first example, someone was complaining about how little she worked, obviously suggesting she could have and should worked more. But we don’t always know someone’s situation. We don’t always know what struggles they have in their life. And we NEVER know the whole story. If we think about it for a moment we will understand that just as nobody knows our exact situation we can’t possibly know somebody else’s situation. So why do we insist on speaking poorly about others?



Jesus said, “Just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.” (Luke 6.31) The Golden Rule has passed down from generation to generation and still we need a reminder. If we don’t want people judging our actions because they don’t know the whole story, why do we still do the same to them? It seems that we spend more time reversing the Golden Rule to mean, “Since they did it to me, I’m going to do it to them!” This sounds more like the fool’s gold and we all know just how worthless that is.



This week take a moment and think twice before you react to someone or say something about someone. Remind yourself you don’t know the whole story and maybe your fool’s gold will turn into pure gold for the glory of God.

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