If you had to condense all of the Bible’s directives in to 3 rules, what would you say those rules would be? This is the question that I asked our kids at the Little Rock PRTF on Monday night, and the answers were varied. They included not being greedy, avoiding racism, loving God, following the 10 commandments (which I kind of felt like was a “wishing for more wishes” answer,) and loving yourself.

This was a hard task for the kids, but I also feel like it would also be a difficult task for us. When given this assignment, one of the kids called out, “We don’t have the whole Bible memorized!” Which, is so true, right? We don’t have the whole Bible memorized, and sadly, most of us probably never will. Thank God that we have the access to it that we do!

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, summarized God’s directives to His people in what he called “Three Simple Rules.” Wesley said that if we could “Do No Harm, Do Good, and Attend to the Ordinances of God (or, more simply, Stay in Love with God)” that we would be following God’s plan for our lives. While these are much easier stated than actually followed, I do think that these three instructions can give us a great starting point for more closely walking the path that God has for us.

“Do No Harm” is the first rule, and the one which I would like to look at today. To do no harm basically means that we refrain from causing destruction where we go. While it sounds kind of ridiculous to think that we are walking around producing harm, I think that we sometime unintentionally end up doing just that. Our decisions may cause harm to God’s creation, our actions may cause harm to our relationships, and our lack of self-care may cause harm to our bodies.

However, I think for many of us (myself included) the way in which we most often cause harm is through our words. Have you ever been at a point where you desperately wish you could rewind the past 5 seconds, or somehow cause the words that just escaped your lips to jump back in your mouth? (Or maybe even that you could unsend a text/e-mail/posted comment?) Even as I sit here writing this today, I can become anxious and saddened thinking of harm that I have caused through my words.

Maybe words aren’t your struggle, though. Everyone’s struggles look different; therefore, everyone’s harm will look a little different. The Bible is full of passages that remind us to not cause harm, but instead, to love. Not only are we supposed to love others, but Jesus goes so far as to command us to love those who are difficult to love. Those who hurt us, those who are evil, those who cause us grief.

Unfortunately, we are even to avoid harm to those people. Romans 12:14-18 says,
¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.^[a] Do not be conceited.¹⁷ Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. ¹⁸ If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

These are some big, hard words, right? Live in peace with everyone? Regardless of what they have done to us? The only consolation that I see, the only way that this is even a remote possibility in my life, is that I don’t have to follow this directive on my own. It is only by Christ living in us that we are able to prevent harm to others, and it is only through relying on Him that we can live this out.

The challenge that I gave the kids on Monday, and the one that I want to present for us today, is that we live a week where we do no harm. Where we live more aware of our words, our actions, and our impact, and where we invite the Holy Spirit to help us as we seek to live in such a way that we bring no harm to any aspect of His creation!