Golden Eye

How do I know if I am doing a good job following this simple rule?

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

It's easy, right?  Just treat others the way we would want to be treated and we're golden.

But how good a judge are we of our own actions?

Earlier in the same chapter, Matthew gives us a warning from Jesus not to judge.  Don't look to remove the speck from someone else's eye when there is a log in your own. 

So, if we are so outwardly focused that we cannot see our own faults, how do we know how good a job we are doing at treating people well?

How many times have I thought I was being kind, only to have someone tell me they thought I was harsh?  Perhaps I am not a good judge of my actions and I need help, a third party, someone who has no skin in the game, to play back what I do without prejudice, but with a golden eye.

It makes sense, doesn't it, to use the very nature Jesus warns us about to help us see ourselves better?

If I am better at seeing the speck in your eye than the log in my own, I should be good at telling you when I think you were being nasty or hurtful.  Then you can thank me for being so observant and you can judge me when I am hurtful or nasty to someone else.

We can all help each other see how bad we are to others.

I don't know.  That sounds like a recipe for disaster.  It still focuses on the bad and not the good, and I think that is a problem.

Of course there can be harm in seeing only good in people too.  If I ignore the bad altogether, I can easily be duped or conned.  I wouldn't want that.

So, maybe the advice is as simple as it sounds.  Just do what you would have people do to you.

If I wouldn't like it, I shouldn't do it.

Can I make it through the day without breaking that rule?  I guess I can try.

More to come...