One day a friend and I looked at the world's troubles. After a depressing discussion, he had a solution---"Everyone just needs to treat each other the way Jesus taught." Hmmm. Let's think about that.

If everyone treated each other as Jesus taught, then _____________________________.

How would you finish that sentence? If everyone in the entire world actually did that, what would be different? Would you be any different? Would the world really change?

My first reaction was, "Everything would be wonderful. There'd be peace and love everywhere. We'd all get along and care for each other. Absolute happiness all around." But maybe that's not exactly true.

Would everything be wonderful? Terrible illnesses, accidents, and deaths would continue. People would still grieve and mourn. Businesses would succeed and fail. People would still lose their jobs or not find one. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, landslides, and floods would come just as before. People would still lose everything. Many would die. No changes there.

What about peace? Peace in the world is not a state of mind. We don't have peace by simply wanting it. We have to do something, such as respecting each other regardless of the color of their skin, the country they're from, or their political stands. Peace involves discussion, disagreement, and reconciliation. Such peace requires admitting "I" may be wrong, something easier said than done.

And what of love? Jesus used the term not as emotion or attitude, but as action and, more importantly, INTER-action. Love looks to what we do for others---feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, visiting those in prison, finding shelter for the homeless, comforting and caring, sharing our faith. Love requires encouraging others...and learning how.

All of this involves time and effort. And don't forget our mistakes along the way which create frustration, tension, judgment, anger---if not with others, certainly with ourselves. In learning how to treat others, we must wrestle with our own expectations, especially when things don't go according to plan.

So what does it mean to treat each other as Jesus taught? What are we supposed to do? It looks like a lot of hard work---learning, doing, interacting, making mistakes, learning from mistakes, adjusting, making more mistakes, dealing with a growing mountain of emotional baggage. Wow. And Jesus just said five little words---Love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31). It seemed so simple.

But something is missing. When asked what was the most important thing required of us, Jesus did not begin with loving others. Another requirement came first---Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (Mark 12:30)

Loving others must come second. Because if we do not love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, we can never know how to love anyone else. It is only by loving God that we truly understand grace, mercy, compassion, kindness, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, sacrifice, honor, respect, commitment, and devotion---all which we need to treat each other as Jesus taught.