It has been my observation―
And you can quote me on this if you like―
That most people are fairly well-behaved
When they are behaving well.
When you see them falling short,
It’s often not so much because they don’t
Know any better as it is because
They don’t want any better.
There’s the problem.
It’s really pretty simple:
People who want better
Can and will learn better,
Because really―
If we’re willing to honest about it―
It’s not that hard.
But what is hard
Is for people who
Don’t want it
To notice those two
Words near the beginning
Of Jesus’ great directive:
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you…”
Jesus. Matthew 7:12. NIV.
They’ll lie to themselves that
They are obeying Jesus when they
Only treat others this way in some things,
But not in everything.
It’s not so much that they don’t know how;
It’s that they just don’t want to.
To put it more simply than
They would want it put,
They have not surrendered
Their own wills to Jesus.
Thus they violate
The first- and second-greatest commandments,
Even as they assure themselves―
And would have us assured―
That they are secure with God
In everything.
