The Golden Rule and Prayer

Jesus spoke the words that have come to be known as the Golden Rule in the Sermon on the Mount.

Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. Matthew 7:12

Have you ever considered the context for this saying? We should consider it, since the saying starts off with the adverb therefore. The laws of grammar make us know that the Golden Rule is thus a logical conclusion of the words that precede it.

The saying immediately preceding the Golden Rule is this:

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: Matthew 7:7

The next four verses in Matthew are an elaboration on this saying, but do not change the subject. The Lord had been teaching about asking and receiving our requests from God. The Golden Rule follows this, and by context is a necessary contingent for asking and receiving from God. In other words, our ability to ask and receive is related to our willingness to do unto others as we would have them do unto us.

This shouldn't surprise us if we are students of the Sermon on the Mount. This is the same sermon in which Christ taught that our ability to be forgiven is related to our ability to forgive.

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:14-15 

If we cannot be forgiven without extending forgiveness to those who have wronged us, why should be expect to receive good things from God's hand if our own hands do not extend in blessing and generosity to those around us?

The scriptures are abundant with wonderful blessings that many people like to call "promises." I don't like the term "promise", because it is misleading--it implies that there is no responsibility on our own part. A promises is unilateral, only depending on the person who made the promise. If I promise to give you a piece of property, then as a man of honor, I must give that piece of property to you even if I find out you stole some property from another man.

The privileges we are given in Christ are not like this. They are not unilateral promises. They always involve responsibility on our part. Our own forgiveness is contingent on us forgiving those who have wronged us. The hope of answered prayer is contingent on us being generous and open-handed to others.

It occurs to me then that true, biblical christianity is entirely relevant and beneficial to the human condition. It is not possible, in truth, to become too spiritual for any earthly good. Again and again, Christ connects our relationship with heavenly treasure to our relationship with our fellow man. Christian believers are not to be disengaged from humanity, but engaged in the sense that we reciprocate God's forgiveness and grace toward us back to the world around us.