Devotional: Reconciled to Margaret

‘“In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want to them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets’ (Matt. 7:12, NASB). Reconciliation is the restoring of a good relationship that has gone bad ending in hostility between two parties. When I was in the eighth grade our school cafeteria was in a building separate from the main building. One day our class was returning from lunch to class. At some point Margaret and I got into a heated argument. I don’t remember what the argument was about. This is what I remember. Mr. Sanford our teacher heard me speaking rudely to Margaret. He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me out of the line. This was not considered abusive treatment in our culture at that time. Mr. Sanford said to me: “Boy, do you have a mother and a sister”? “Yes sir,” I replied. “Do you want someone to treat your mother and sister that way”? “No sir,” I said. He released my arm and told me to get back in line. Mr. Sanford was holding me to the ethic that said boys should not hit girls. It was the accepted norm at that time. Mr. Sanford was making the same point that Jesus made as He taught the disciples in the Sermon on the Mountain (Matt. 5-7). The ethic of God is to treat people the way they ought to be treated, not how we feel that they deserve to be treated. This is the love of God and results in the mercy, grace, and compassion of God toward all people. As followers of Jesus, we too are to consider how we want to be treated. The discipline of Mr. Sanford led to the reconciliation between Margaret and me. We were friends, but our friendship was jeopardized by how we were treating each other. Having been called out by Mr. Sanford, we forgot about whatever we had being arguing about. We resumed our friendship.