The Golden Rule for the “Cousin Eddie” In Your Life

As you sift through your junk mail one particular letter catches your eye.  It claims to be from the office of the President of the United States.  You open it, figuring it to be a scam.  To your surprise it is legit.  President Obama has written you a letter thanking you for your awesomeness.  He says that he desires to honor you with whatever you desire.  All you have to do is ask and it is yours. 

Start dreaming. 

You write up your wish list and send it in to the President.  To your dismay two weeks later everything you “ordered” is delivered on the lawn of your least favorite neighbor.  (You know the smelly guy that gets his morning paper in his not-so-flattering boxer shorts while his dog poops in your yard.) 

Thinking there is a mistake, you quickly jaunt over to Cousin Eddie’s feces-free yard to inform him that there has been a mistake and that all of his grand prizes were meant to be delivered to your house.  But they weren’t.  The postal service didn’t mess up this time.  It was the original letter that was meant to go across the street.  Your smelly neighbor was to be the recipient of the President’s blessings. 

Now here is the million dollar question.  Had you received a letter from the President requesting his help in blessing your loser of a neighbor would you have given him much less than you requested for yourself? 

I would. 

And apparently so would Haman.  We read in Esther 6 that he unintentionally followed the Golden Rule.  He blessed Mordecai thinking that he was going to bless himself.  He unwittingly “did unto others as he would have done to himself”.

Looking at Haman’s heart is a rebuke to my own.  I am too much like Haman.  I dream bigger dreams for myself than I do others.  My prayer life is a reflection of that.  Yeah, I seldom pray for people’s heads to be on a platter.  That’s good.  But I also seldom pray for an overflow of God’s blessings in their lives. 

So, I’m praying today that the Lord will change my heart to dream big dreams for other people.  I want to reflect the Lord Jesus in giving my life to bringing others into a vast enjoyment of God.  I want to have a heart that is opposite of Haman’s. 

Father, forgive me for having a Haman type of heart.  Forgive me for a jealous and covetous heart that longs for more in my own life.  Forgive me for often turning an uncaring eye to others.  Replace my Haman-heart with a Christ-like heart that “counts others more significant than myself” and that “looks not only to my own interests but also to the interests of others.”  Amen.