Choose One Wish

If God promised to give each of us one wish, what would your wish be?

I thought about this awhile and first thought I would ask for World peace, no more wars.

But then I thought more, and finally decided that my one wish would be –

that everyone would live by the Golden Rule!

If we lived by the Golden Rule, all our lives would be better in so many ways!  Of course God does not force us to do things we don’t want to do. He gives us free will, so He probably would not make everyone follow the Golden Rule.  That should not stop us from choosing to follow the Golden Rule.  It is in the Bible.

Luke 6:31 “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” (NIV)

If you think about it, it is amazing how this short sentence could change our lives!

It would affect every part of our lives.  It would affect how we treat people in our family, and how we treat strangers, and friends, and our spouse.  We can easily understand it and know what we should do, simply by asking, what would I want?  Would you like a hug?  Do that.  Would you like an apology? Do that.  Would you like to be forgiven?  Do that.  Would you like everyone to smile and say hello? Do that. 

This seems so much easier to understand than “Love one another” (from John 13:34), which leaves me wondering how do I do that?  The Golden Rule is easier to follow.

Let’s look at another Bible translation of Luke 6:31 –

The Message says, “Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them! “

How easy is that to understand!  I know it is harder to actually do it.  We have a tendency to say, why should we treat them so nice, they never treat us nice.  But that is exactly why the Golden Rule is so important, it can first change our behavior, and then it will change the behavior of some other people.  I know some people will still not be nice, no matter what we do.  Let God deal with them!

And here is a version that uses the word “wish”, The English Standard Version (ESV) —

“And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.”

I really love this one verse!  No wonder parents have been repeating the Golden Rule to their kids for so long.  It is amazingly good advice!

So wish away! What would be your 1 wish if God would give you one?

Please share in the comments below.  And pray that God does give you your one wish.  He hears every prayer.  I will pray for your wish too.

I used Bible Gateway for the Bible quotes.  They are found at www.BibleGateway.com

 

 

 

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