The Golden Rule and charity

"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." Matthew 7:12

More than any other law, I think that the Golden Rule is very relevant to emulating God's selfless love for ourselves and others. The glory of God is intelligence, and His supreme understanding leads him to have selfless love for every existing thing. Together these are His chief attributes, but just how often do we take for granted His love for us?

We are commanded to treat others as we would like to be treated; does this not include how we would like to be treated by God? As one prophet put it, "You should forgive and overlook: Do you not like God to forgive you?" We are all beggars, but if we squabble between each other for scraps how is it that we will be looked kindly upon by our Lord?

God exercised tyrannical dominion, if He exploited our flaws, if He removed Himself from us forevermore after impatiently counting out the four hundred and ninetieth time, how few of us would remain alive in the furnace of His wrath? And yet how quick are we to abuse our power, and how slow to forgive?

If we want others to love us- if we want, at least, for God to love us- then truly we should have love for others. God's love is not conditional upon it, but that is the only kind of love that we would want above all others, and we should act accordingly.