Teaching Values: Walk the Walk - Part 2

Nathaniel Taylor inquired concerning the Golden Rule, "Which feature is most obvious in human behavior, doing as we want others to do to us or doing as we have been done to?” It's difficult not to criticize when criticized, to refrain from retaliating when emotionally or physically hurt, or to refuse to be defensive when confronted with a defensive attitude.

Jesus preached, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," and he was serious about putting it into practice. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, "Jesus preached to all people the gospel of the Golden Rule. He believed the deed and not the creed would help us in our greatest and ultimate need."

Today Longfellow could say, "Walk the walk, not just talk the talk” or “Don’t be all talk and no action." Listen to Ephesians 2:10. "For we are God's workman-ship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them." Good works represent our faith in Christ Jesus as well as our values and our choices.  

Dealing Constructively with Reality - Part 1

Reality is what we believe is absolutely true. When reality is painful and difficult to face, the truth as we see it can become distorted, denied, or avoided. Some people say exactly what they think regardless of how those words hurt others. When confronted with how their words emotionally devastate others, a common response is, "I'm being myself and speaking the truth."

Dealing constructively with reality requires admitting that hurtful behaviors damage relationships. Failure to face this truth takes place when emotional damage is blamed on something other than a critical attitude. Criticism is capable of destroying trust and of making a friendship or relationship undesirable.

Caring enough to confront is risky because the capacity to change may be limited or absent. Rejection produces sadness, but can be dealt with constructively when we allow it to help us face reality and change. Jesus was consistently bombarded with criticism, but his approach was to confront the truth with love and forgiveness.