The Republican

THURSDAY. JUNE 2, 1960.

Imagination as well as intelligence. If the man who gave his wife the shotgun would try to put himself into his wife's place, he would ask, "If I were my wife, what birthday present would I want?" And he might remember that she had said something about wanting new bathroom curtains. Or, if he had an even stronger power of imagination, he could think his way into her mind and guess at something she had never so much as mentioned--an extension telephone, or a trip to her old home.

Whatever you would wish people to do to you--if you were in their place--do so to them. That is the real meaning of this rule.

Sometimes it calls for the kind of imagination that can look into the future. Parents and teachers need this greatly. You can perhaps imagine what this child, this student, wants you to do now. He wants you not to punish him. He wants you not to require hard work of him. Now you can let the child do as he pleases without lifting a hand against him, and that will suit him down to the ground. But ten years from now you--and he too--may sorely wish you had spanked him good when spanking would do some good. Likewise the teacher can be easy on the class with the consequence that they learn nothing. Years later they may fail in competition with those who once studied under harder-driving teachers. Then they will wish the teacher had put on the screws.

The Christian Heart

The Golden Rule calls for something beyond, or rather undergirding, intelligence and imagination. Its right use calls for the Christian heart, that is to say, a heart in tune with the heart of Jesus, a heart wherein dwells the Holy Spirit; a heart sensitive not merely to the wants of others but to their needs.

Jesus himself gave an illustration of this when the paralyzed man was brought to him by the man's four friends who let him down through the roof. The first thing Jesus said to him was "Your sins are forgiven." Some people would have criticized Jesus for that. Where was any evidence that this man wanted his sins forgiven? Would his friends think a trick had been played on them? A forgiven cripple weighs just as much as an unforgiven cripple, doesn't he? But our Lord knew what the man needed most of all was forgiveness. Only a Christ-like heart can see through want to need.

(Based on outlines copyrighted by the Division of Christian Education, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U. S. A. Released by Community Press Service.)