Do you want to learn how to read minds? All you have to do is think about what you wish people would do for you, and then do it for them. You’ll find it’s exactly how people want to be treated. It’s like reading their mind.
People all generally want the same things: understanding, forgiveness, compassion, respect, and friendliness. It’s the golden rule for a reason.
We can also look to Scripture to discover how people want to be treated, especially the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law.”
Galatians 5:22-23
See the shownotes for more details, resources, and Bible verses to ponder.
Snippet from the Show
“I know that this is the way I would want to be treated, so I will treat people I meet today with self-control, gentleness, I’ll be faithful, I’ll walk in goodness, I’ll be kind, I’ll be patient, I’ll promote peace, I’ll exhibit joy, I will walk in love. I’ll be understanding and forgiving.”
SHOWNOTES
Matthew 7:12 – “So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.”
Matthew 22:36-40 – “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.’”
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 – “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD; and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”
Leviticus 19:18 – You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.”
How Do People Want Us to Treat Them?
- They want to be understood.
- They want to be shown forgiveness.
- They want to be shown compassion.
- They want respect.
- They want me to be friendly toward them.
Fruits of the Holy Spirit
Galatians 5:22-23 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law.”
Love
CCC 221 – “But St. John goes even further when he affirms that ‘God is love’: God’s very being is love. By sending his only Son and the Spirit of Love in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret: God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange.”
To choose the best for another no matter what the cost to your self. Unconditional love: Love describes a life-enhancing action that flows from God. It’s goodwill in action.
He loves the unlovable, not because we deserve to be loved, but because it is his nature to do so. God’s love is most clearly seen at the Cross, where Christ died for those who were “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1), not because we did anything to deserve it, “but God shows his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Joy
Nehemiah 8:10 – “Do not be grieved (sad, sorrowful), for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
CCC 736 – By this power of the Spirit, God’s children can bear much fruit. He who has grafted us onto the true vine will make us bear “the fruit of the Spirit: . . . love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” “We live by the Spirit”; the more we renounce ourselves, the more we “walk by the Spirit.”
Through the Holy Spirit we are restored to paradise, led back to the Kingdom of heaven, and adopted as children, given confidence to call God “Father” and to share in Christ’s grace, called children of light and given a share in eternal glory.
Peace
Shalom
Patience
Thomas A. Kempis – “Endeavor to be always patient of the faults and imperfections of others for thou has many faults and imperfections of thine own that require forbearance.”
Archbishop Fulton Sheen – “Why is it that we can find excuses for our anger against our neighbor, yet we refuse to admit the same excuses when our neighbor is angry with us? We say others would forgive us if they understood us perfectly, and that the only reason they are angry with us is because they do not understand.”
CCC 1832 – The fruits of the Spirit are perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits of eternal glory. The tradition of the Church lists twelve of them: “charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity [citing Galatians 5: 22-23].”
Kindness
Father Lovasik wrote a great book – The Hidden Power of Kindness
Goodness
The choosing of moral good.
Faithfulness
Emunah
You want your friends to be loyal to you, don’t you?
Gentleness
Responding to all circumstances without hurrying or harshness.
Self Control
The ability to restrain our impulses and govern our desires, rather than being enslaved to them.
Conclusion
DON’T
1. Don’t speak unkindly of anyone.
2. Don’t think unkindly about anyone.
3. Don’t act unkindly toward anyone.
DO
1. Speak kindly of someone at least once a day.
2. Think kindly about someone at least once a day (this teaches us to think kindly, which in our secret thoughts we’re prone not to do.)
3. Do an act of kindness to someone at least once a day (and as this virtue grows such acts can be multiplied.)
Resource
- Fr. Lovasik’s The Hidden Power of Kindness
