How Can I Live the Golden Rule More Easily?

Bible, Women & Bathrobes, Episode 43

Sermon on the Mount, part 22

Summary

Tamara Anderson and Amy Johnson discuss Matthew 7:12-14 from the Sermon on the Mount, emphasizing the Golden Rule and its complexity. They explore the balance between loving God and loving others, highlighting the importance of treating others as we wish to be treated. Amy shares personal insights on the challenges of maintaining this balance, especially during difficult times. They also delve into discussing the strait/narrow gate that leads to life and the broader path that leads to destruction. The conversation underscores the need for repentance, forgiveness, and a strong relationship with God to navigate these commandments effectively.

Main Takeaways

• From Amy, “And then I also had this thought about God and how He He didn't give me prayer necessarily for him. He didn't give me scriptures for him. He gave me those things for me, and and so all of this is about what has he given me to have a healthy relationship with him, and what am I giving him so that I can have a relationship that's healthy with others?”
• From Tamara, “I think this is a process. I know absolutely every day, every week, every month. You know that, oh, God, I messed up again, and here I am at the Cross once more, laying my burdens at your feet and asking you to take it and help me fix this. Help me become new in you again, because I make mistakes all the time. You know it is, it is a constant process of inviting him in, not giving up on ourselves, not just saying, Oh, the Heck, I've done too much wrong, although sometimes we may feel that way. That's how Satan wants us to feel, you know, like, oh, I have done too many things wrong. God doesn't want me. God always wants you.”

Today’s Podcast Hosts & Guests

Tamara K. Anderson

Tamara, founder of Women Warriors of Light, is a dynamic speaker, award winning author, and a podcaster. She is driven by her Christian faith to inspire faith in Jesus Christ. Alongside her husband, Justin, she navigates the joys and challenges of parenting four children with autism, ADHD, and mental health hurdles. You can find out more about Tamara on her website: https://www.tamarakanderson.com/

Amy Johnson

Amy is a member of our Women Warriors of Light Advisory Board. She is a leader of women, a homemaker, and a licensed cosmetologist. Amy enjoys nurturing women through betrayal trauma to becoming a beacon of support and inspiration.

Transcript

If you’d like to read the transcript of today’s episode, you can find it on our Women Warriors of Light website blog. Link in the bio.

Tamara Anderson  0:00 

Do you ever wish people treated you like you treat them? That's a good question. We're going to talk a little bit about that, what's known as the Golden Rule here in the Sermon on the Mount. So stay tuned.

Tamara Anderson  0:17 

Welcome to Bible, Women & Bathrobes, the podcast where faith meets comfort. Join us Tuesday morning as the gals from Women Warriors of Light and their guests don bathrobes and dive into the inspiring stories of women in the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ. From Esther's bravery to the Sermon on the Mount we explore it all with warmth, laughter, sisterhood and maybe even a few sleepy eyed moments. Tune in, live or at your leisure as we learn lessons from scripture which empower women today.

Speaker 1  0:58 

Hello and welcome to another episode of Bible, Women and Bathrobes. I'm your host, Tamara K Anderson, and joining me today is my wonderful Amy Johnson. She's part of our women warriors of light advisory board. Thanks for being here today, Amy.

Amy Johnson  1:16 

thank you. It's good morning.

Speaker 1  1:18 

Yes, it is okay. We are in Matthew chapter seven. We've been in Matthew chapter seven for the last two weeks, and today we're kind of coming to a really key verse that really kind of takes what we've been talking about the last two weeks. We kind of talked about judging two weeks ago, and what, what Jesus, means by not judging. And then the, you know, the the moat and the beams and your eye type thing. And then last week, we talked about asking, and God giving us good gifts. Asking you shall receive, seeking, you shall find all that. And now we come to this key pinnacle verse where, where it has a really good transition word. And I know this, Amy loves this transition words so I'm actually going to invite Amy to read this.

Amy Johnson  2:17 

I do love transition words in Scripture. That's so good, every time I read a transition word, like, therefore, I'm like, therefore, what? Wait, wait, what did I miss? What did I miss? Go back. Go back. I love transition words, because that tells it just wakes my brain up.

Amy Johnson  2:33 

And this one, this one, I really, I think we've read this 1000 times. "Therefore, all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you even so to them, for this is law and the prophets." And I, I when, when I read that, therefore again, I, I kind of perked up, and I was like, wait, wait, wait. So he just got through teaching me to not judge unrighteous judgment, to cast the beam out of my own eye, to hold things that are sacred, keep them sacred, and to be willing to ask the Lord for whatever I need or even want ask.

Amy Johnson  3:19 

And now he's saying therefore, and now he brings it back home. And I think the Lord is really I, I love how he does this in the where he, when he talks to them about the two great commandments, and he talks about it, he, he always brings them back in balance, right? So judge not--we think of that as our neighbor. Then ask God keep his sacred things sacred. Now we're loving God, and we're having a relationship with him, and now he comes back, and he brings it back to the neighbor. So he just, he's really good how he just, he keeps bringing him back and forth. And I love that. So he says,

Amy Johnson  4:05 

Therefore, all things, and I love the word all too, by the way, all things don't, don't find wiggle room. There's no loophole. All things whatsoever, you would that men should do to you, do you even so to them, I just, I love that. I love that because it just brings back in okay, I'm I'm working every day to love God by keeping his commandments and being obedient and doing what I do to have a relationship with Him. Now I need to take that mirror it with other people. I've got to make sacrifices to be in a relationship with other people. I have to give I have to but I also have to have boundaries and expectations too, because there's no relationship without expectation. And sacrifice. And so I love that.

Tamara Anderson  5:02 

I love I love that too. And I remember being a young kid and and learning this. In fact, I think there was this, even the little song that my mom taught us about, you know that there's this golden rule, and that's Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. And as a kid, I remember thinking, okay, that's fairly simple. I can do that, you know, and in a, and that, I think that's one of the great things about this, is that it's simple enough a child can learn it. But the older I get, the more I'm like this is much more complex than I thought, as when I, you know, when I was eight, nine, whatever, whenever she was teaching me this concept and and so I think that's the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ is, is there's so many concepts that are so simple that even a kid can get them. And yet they're, they're so complex, the more you dive into them, and older you get, the more baggage we carry. You know that that golden rule of doing to others, because often by the time you get older, you've had things done unto you that were not very nice, right? And so we're, we're looking through the life, sometimes through a little bit of jaded lenses. And I think that's where we kind of gotta go back to the beginning of this chapter and say, Judge not you know that, or judge with judge righteous judgment. There's, there's that need of repentance and forgiveness that comes into play for us to be our best selves and to live this golden rule, right? It's, it's so much, I it was easier to live as a child than it is than an adult. I think,

Amy Johnson  6:52 

I think so, because trauma plays its part, right? And so you, you bumped and crashed into people and and many times we bump and crash into each other because we can't see because of the beam in our eye. And honestly, I love this because seriously, God really is Jesus constantly is going back and forth between this love God, love your neighbor. Love God, Love your neighbor. Just in the first 14 verses of this chapter, he just keeps cycling back and forth and back and forth. And I really believe that that is his way of saying these two things have to be in balance. They have to or none of this works. I can. I can do my very best, live all the commandments, keep all the commandments, and essentially be perfect in all the spelled out commandments, and still be super judgmental of somebody that I think isn't doing the same thing, and that's not really God's plan. Or I can swing the other side, and I can be totally accepting of all the behaviors and all the garbage in the world, to the point that I become not a covenant keeper and not the kind of person that God would have me be, because he does have some absolute laws and so and so. We have to find that that balance. And I love how there's another connector word in this verse.

Tamara Anderson  8:27 

Oh yeah, go ahead.

Amy Johnson  8:27 

I love it. Um, right after the colon, he says for, and that's another connector word "for this is the law and the prophets." And what he's really saying is Love God, Love your neighbor, and that's where all the Law and the Prophets hang in between. Yeah, and I love that and.

Amy Johnson  8:28 

And I really think this golden rule, I actually have a really good friend, Counselor. He taught me, we He teaches me every time I'm with him, but he did say, the other day, couple months ago, I was up there, and he said, think to yourself, the way I'm behaving right now. Would I want to be married to me? And that's to me, that's essentially what the golden rule is. Think of how I'm behaving right now in this relationship. Would I want to be in this relationship with me? Yeah, that's what I try and keep and that that goes for God too. If I'm, if I'm trumping on things that are sacred to him, is that going to be what he wants to be in a relationship? Would he want to be in a relationship with me? Then, if I'm if I'm trashing the things that are that really matter to him, and it's intertwined and interdependent?

Tamara Anderson  9:50 

Yeah, it really is. Yeah. I love how you brought in those, those transition birds, both the therefore and the for. And I. Also love how you pointed out that all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you, even so to them. And and this is easy to do when we're feeling good and happy and healthy. It's harder to do when we're off balance, right when, when we're feeling sick, when, um or Oh, hormonal, ladies, hello. Oh yeah, yeah. These are times that it's really, really hard, and those are things we can ask God to be with us in, because we're doing the best we can and the shape that we're in. And maybe those are things that we ask for help us to find things that help us go through this. PMS, time with less PMS.

Amy Johnson  10:49 

Yeah, and I had to learn phrases to like, I really love you and I I'm not, I don't, I don't think you're doing anything wrong, but I'm going to need to go, take a 15 minute timeout, or half hour till I get my brain back on like, I can't, I can't, I'm sorry. I'm not trying to shun you, but I got to, I've got to have space, and I gotta take this to God, because you and I can get in this vortex. And you know, I had to learn phrases like that in order to stop me from mistreating someone.

Tamara Anderson  11:28 

Yeah, no. And I've had to have frank conversations like that with my husband, and he'll come home from work and like, how's your day? And I'm like, I feel so angry, and I don't even know why,

Amy Johnson  11:38 

yeah,

Tamara Anderson  11:39 

oh, and I said, I think it's time for me to start my period, and so I'm sorry I don't know why I'm feeling angry, and it is. It's just that fluctuation of hormones in me. And so, you know, I'm going to give you guys dinner, and I'm going to go like you said, I need a break, because I what I'm feeling inside doesn't even make sense in my brain, like I know enough to understand that, that I'm not functioning well right now. Something is wrong with my body. It's not working. Yeah, it's not working the way it's supposed to.

Tamara Anderson  12:09 

Oh, anyway, so and so I think, I think there is that where this golden rule is fantastic, and when we're feeling great, it's easy to do, but like, like I said, there are times and moments when we don't feel optimally right, and that is why we need Jesus, you know. And I've taken time to myself and had prayers where I've said, God, I don't want to feel this way. I don't know why I'm feeling this way. I need your help to get me out of this funk, to cast out this feeling of anger and rage, you know, because sometimes those emotions are so strong in us and and they are. They're chemical reactions happening within our body and and so I need God's help to move me through that. I know I'm going to be a little more punchy at that point, and so help me to cast this out and pray and bring in the spirit of peace and love and joy. And that's usually where I live, you know. And so inviting God in to help us live this golden rule, even in those hard times.

Amy Johnson  13:24 

Well, and don't you think that kind of plays into the next couple of verses? Because it's really, when I think of straight, I kind of think of a difficult pass. And when, when it's real easy to just explode, it's a little harder for me to bring it all in and just go to God, Mm, hmm. That's actually quite a bit harder for me, right?

Speaker 1  13:53 

Yeah. Well, let's read those verses, since you brought them up. So we've talked about this golden rule, doing to men is, is they would as we want them to do to us. And it says verse 13 and 14, "Enter ye in at the strait gate," S T, R, A, I T. And we'll talk about what that word in a minute. "For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. And many there be which go in thereat. Because strait," again, S, T, R, a, i, t "is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life. And few there be that find it." So I know you're a wordy. Amy, you're a wordy. You like words.

Amy Johnson  14:37 

That's a new thing. I'm a foodie and a wordy. How did that happened to me?

Speaker 1  14:42 

It's awesome. So tell us what the word strait means, S, T, R, a, i, t,

Amy Johnson  14:48 

yeah, straight means narrow, but it can also mean an actual narrow waterway, right? And then another definition is also a limb. The spatial capacity when I look at this, and that's what I was trying to say. There's so many words in here, but when you enter into this narrow space that's kind of difficult to get in, it's really It's okay. Here's this will make sense, because then when you read it out loud, this actually happened to me, enter you in at the straight gate for widee is the gate for Hello, connector. Four wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction.

Amy Johnson  15:35 

And I heard in my head contention, and it's really easy for me to go "pluh" and be big and explosive and large, but if I do that, I'm not going to fit in this narrow gate as well. And that that piece, that wholeness that comes from looking vertically instead of horizontally. And again, see that vertical allows me to get into the strait. Do you see I just, I love this. I love this. And so if I look vertically, and I don't have to be big and overbearing, and explosive, then I can fit in that strait way. And that's why FEW there be that find it, because it is much more difficult to look up and not make you the star of the show. And take the path that leads away from contention and destruction than it is to just give in to the natural man and explode.

Speaker 1  16:53 

We're going to take a quick break, but when we get back, we'll have more lessons, tips and things you can apply to your life. Stay tuned. How many of you out there feel like your life is chaotic, crazy and completely awful compared to the norm? What if I were to tell you, you are normal for you, I'm so excited to tell you about my book Normal for Me, learning to love and accept life's detours with God's help. This book took me 10 years to write, and I shared 20 years worth of lessons learned in my life detours including being in a car accident and having two of my children diagnosed on the autism spectrum. In this book, I share the secrets of how I made it from despair to peace with God's help. I talk about being a zombie mom, living in survival mode, learning true faith and how I debunked the myth that God doesn't give you more than you can handle. Normal for Me also includes a bonus diagnosis survival guide at the very end of the book in which I shared 12 tips to survive and thrive in tough times. So what are you waiting for? Grab your copy of Normal for Me today on Amazon or on my website. Tamara K anderson.com,

Tamara Anderson  18:21 

yeah. I love how you describe that. As we were talking about that. It reminds me in southern Utah, they have a lot of narrows you can hike through where there's huge, sheer red rock cliffs on both sides of you, and it kind of channels water down to a super narrow spot. If you ever hike in Zions in the Narrows, that's, that's kind of, it gets to some really narrow spots where, you know, it's just feet on each side of you. It can feel a little claustrophobic, but it's, it's fascinating to me that the water can carve out. And these, these, it starts as just a simple crack, and then you go through this spot, but that's kind of what I figured.

Tamara Anderson  19:12 

Strait doesn't mean straight like an arrow, like without bends, but strait means this narrow spot and and it takes discipline to to, like you said, reign in all these parts of us that need to be brushed off and refined and stuff like that, and and follow God's commandments, especially in the world today, there where anything and everything goes.

Tamara Anderson  19:42 

God is saying here, if you want this, better, peaceful, more complete, full life, then this is the path you need to walk. And it's hard, or many people would do it right. It's hard, it's easier to. It just anything goes. But it's if you want this peace, if you want to walk with me, then this is what you need to do if you want life eternal. Because that's really, that's where he's leading us to which leadeth unto life, which is, you know, life eternal with God. Few there be that find it.

Tamara Anderson  20:23 

And I think it's not I think there is some people who still in this world, have not heard of Jesus, you know. So there is some of that. But I think the few there be that find it also indicates it's a difficult walk. It's a harder walk because it's refining our very, very souls. It is shaving off all those things that are inhibiting us from walking this strait or more narrow path. We've got to unburden some of these things we're carrying with us so that we can fit through, or we're never going to fit through. You know, we've got to shed all these habits we've picked up, perhaps that are bad habits. It's hard, it's, it's, it's a very refining and difficult process.

Amy Johnson  21:16 

It is. And I love that you brought up the Narrows that are down in the St George area of Utah, because I've walked the Narrows, like I've gone into the narrows right, and you're right. At some point, you kind of almost can get a panic, like, am I going to fit? And honestly, if you had a backpack full of stuff, you would not fit. And but I love how the only way for me that I can feel not that claustrophobic is to look up, because that's when you see the light, right? And I love that, because you're going along and you're like, okay, am I going to fit this really tight? And then you look up and you're like, I Okay, but it's good because I can breathe like there's light. I'm good. And I really, truly believe that that's how, that's how life gets things. We get encumbered, like you said, with so many things, and then we could never. We can't. We can't take all that garbage and be successful in relationships, but we can take all that garbage, go to the Lord, dump it, and then come back and fit in this narrow path. And I love that, yeah.

Speaker 1  22:35 

And I think, I think that is, that is the hope that he's trying to convey here, is that, no, not everything goes, but you bring, come as you are, bring your backpack full of stuff, give it to me, lay it at the cross, and I will take that and now you can fit, you know, but we do have to give away all our sins to know him and and let him begin to refine us. And it's not always the most comfortable feeling to find out, Oh, gotta give up my favorite sins here.

Amy Johnson  23:11 

Yeah, yesterday, we were talking about, we were talking about being horrowed up in sin, or in the pain of sin. And somebody, a farming guy, was like, I don't know what they mean by using harrowed as a verb, but I know what harrow is, and that is this tool they use in farming to turn over the dirt and expose the underneath dirt to oxygen. And then I and I've been this has just been rolling around in my head all day, like, Am I willing to go to the Lord with all my pain, all my stuff, pain, by the way, that I've caused myself and others pain, that they've caused me and themselves, right? Because my thing that I always say is, doesn't matter who pulled the pin on the grenade, both parties got injured, right?

Amy Johnson  24:13 

And so am I willing to go to the Lord and say, Okay, you can do whatever's necessary to expose me to life and light and all the things that are necessary so that I can now fit in this strait gate. And the Lord talks about baptism as a straight and narrow gate, right, too. And so when we, when we're, he's saying, Unencumber yourselves with my help in order to be able to become, come into covenantal relationship with me.

Speaker 1  24:54 

Yeah, I really like that. And I like that image of harrowing and farming, you know. Know Me too. I love Wow, yeah, because God does to us, he helps us uncover well. And it's not just as we enter that baptismal covenant relationship. I think this is a process. I know absolutely every every day, every week, every month. You know that, oh, God, I messed up again, and here I am at the Cross once more, laying my burdens at your feet and asking you to take it and help me fix this. Help me become new in you again, because I make mistakes all the time. You know it is, it is a constant process of inviting him in, not giving up on ourselves, not just saying, Oh, the Heck, I've done too much wrong, although sometimes we may feel that way. That's how Satan wants us to feel, you know, like, oh, I have done too many things wrong. God doesn't want me. God always wants you, you know.

Amy Johnson  26:00 

And, yeah, well, and that kind of goes back to what we were talking about couple of weeks ago, about we can't, don't be so hard on ourselves, because, and again, the adversary we we see this constantly, where it is part of natural man and adversarial stuff to constantly beat ourselves down and pick ourselves apart and and think that we are not good enough and we're not smart enough, and we're not pretty enough, and we're not whatever. We have so many things that we're not enough of, right? But the Lord really does want us to Unencumber ourselves by coming to him over and over and over and over and over and

Speaker 2  26:52 

yeah, absolutely, absolutely, oh, my goodness. Well, these verses have been so powerful. Let's, let's wrap up here. Takeaways from today. We've talked both about the golden rule and then this straight gate leading to life. Any thoughts? Final thoughts there? Amy,

Amy Johnson  27:12 

I really do think for me, this has been just a reminder of how much God's plan is about relationship. And if I if I want to be it, have positive, healthy, happy relationships that bring joy, then I need to look up all the time. I need to look up to God.

Amy Johnson  27:47 

I I had this experience, couple experiences yesterday where I I just felt so much love. The first experience, so much love for my husband. He was sitting next to me on the couch, he was working on something, and I was I was pondering scripture and and different things, and I just felt this overwhelming love for him and that relationship, and thought about how much joy has come into my life because of being in a a good relationship with him and working on it together. And then I also had this thought about God and how He He didn't give me prayer necessarily for him. He didn't give me scriptures for him. He gave me those things for me, and and so all of this is about what has he given me to have a healthy relationship with him, and what am I giving him so that I can have a relationship that's healthy with others?

Tamara Anderson  28:53 

I love how you brought the those great commandments into this discussion today, because it really does hinge on that all. I think the more we've we've dived into this Sermon on the Mount, the more I realize it really is everything boils down to those two things, right? Relationship with Him and our relationship with others. And and we need him if we are going to live the golden rule, we need God in our lives so that we can act and treat others as we want to be treated, right because he is the one that can work in us, so that we are treating all People with kindness and love and grace and compassion and no judgment, you know, as we talked about at the beginning, with just that, that God can kind of use us as a vessel to shine his light. But you we have to have that relationship with Him first, because, as we talked about the other week, we can only love others as much as we love God and ourselves. If we don't have that love for ourselves, it's hard for us to shine it to others, right? So, yeah, I think that's really what it boils down to, is as we strengthen and put our relationship with God as a top priority in developing that relationship with him and understanding how much he does love and care about you as an individual and me as an individual, then we can fulfill all these commandments. It really does start there, though. Yeah, awesome. Well, thanks for joining us today on today's version of Bible women and bathrobes. We hope that you found something in here that's helpful to you, whether you're struggling with people treating you the way you should be treating treated, or in wanting to improve your relationship with those around you, start with God and he'll help you work and figure it out with everyone else. Thank you.

Tamara Anderson  29:00 

Thanks for tuning in to Bible, Women and Bathrobes, hosted by Women Warriors of Light. We've loved exploring the stories of remarkable women or the teachings of the Savior today with you. If today's episode brought someone special to mind, be sure to spread the word, and don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss a moment of inspiration and sisterhood. Just a friendly reminder, all opinions we share are entirely personal, as we are trying to decipher and apply Bible teachings just like you are, until next time, stay faithful and may your journey be blessed and illuminated by God's love.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai