Thought for the Day

This verse tells us what people expect of each other; and that God considers our character more important than our circumstances. It tells us that we, as human beings, desire that other people would be kind and loyal to us. No one wants to be treated in a wrongful manner by others. We all like to be treated kindly and fairly. The way that we can attain this kind of treatment is for us to give others that kind of treatment, since the Bible tells us that we shall reap what we sow. If we are receiving harsh treatment from anyone, the way to overcome this kind of treatment is to sow good things back to that person, no matter what wrongs they have done to us. If we cannot sow actual deeds to them, we can sow kind prayers and thoughts toward them. It is not possible for us to do this in our own selves; we must have the power of the Holy Spirit to help us. However, when we choose to pursue this path, the Lord will move on the hearts of others to respond to us differently. Romans 12:21 says, "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."

We are also commanded by Jesus, our Lord, to love one another and to treat others as we would like to be treated. "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise" (Luke 6:31). If we are children of the Lord, we must act like Him and reflect His nature in our dealings with others. He then will deal with our enemies. We do not have to. God is interested in changing our natures and character to reflect His. The circumstances we go through give Him the opportunity to do this. When we choose to act like our Lord, He empowers and changes us in each negative circumstance that we face, so that we can overcome in it and become more like Him.

The last half of this scripture states that "a poor man is better than a liar." It is better to endure trying circumstances than to have a bad character, for the Lord is more interested in changing our characters than our circumstances. He can change our circumstances in a moment, but it takes longer for our character to change. We are eternal beings, being prepared for an unimaginably glorious future. God's purpose for our lives is to change us to reflect the nature and ability of Christ (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18). Every circumstance we go through gives Him the opportunity to do this when we choose to obey Him.

In every circumstance we make a choice: to do things God's way or ours. The Holy Spirit is our Helper, empowering us to choose to die to self and enabling us to obey God as Jesus did (Philippians 2:13). He forms the character of Christ in us as we do this, producing the fruit of the Spirit. We must all ask God for the grace to take up our crosses daily and put to death everything that is not like Him.