iPhones, Mashed Potatoes and Being God's Child

"This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister" (1 John 3:10).

John goes right to the heart of things, doesn't he? He draws a line in the sand between children of God and children of the devil, and he makes the distinction very clear. There is no room for wiggling or debating here. If you do what is right you are a child of God; if you do what is wrong, you are a child of the devil. And, returning to his familiar theme, the theme he first heard in the Upper Room on the last night he was with Jesus, if you love your brother and sister you are a child of God; if you hate them, you are a child of the devil.

Clear, straightforward words. But they are words we need today, perhaps like never before. The polarization that exists in our culture is devastating and gives me great concern for the future of our culture. A nation or a community cannot long exist when hatred fills the air, when wrongdoing becomes normal, when the designs of the Creator are ignored. There is a way life is meant to work and there are many other ways that, if followed, make life not work. There is right, and there is wrong.

Imagine if I took my beautiful iPhone 6S out of the box, peeled the clear plastic wrapping off of it, and then said, "I know this is a phone and supposed to be used to make calls as well as send texts and check my Facebook, but I don't want to use it that way. I don't care what Apple says; I want to use my iPhone 6S as a scoop for mashed potatoes." And then suppose I took it into the kitchen and began to use it just that way. For one, I will have wasted a whole lot of money (last I checked, genuine spoons are a lot cheaper than iPhones). And more than that, I will have ruined a good piece of equipment because I'm not using it the way the creator envisioned.

That's the way we're approaching life these days, even those of us in the church. We don't care what the creator intended. We think we have grown to the point where we know best how life works...and yet what we've done has led to hatred, discord, brokenness and "wrong" being called "right." (In my childhood, which was really not that long ago, it would never have entered anyone's mind that men might be allowed, by law, to use women's restrooms.)

I want to be a child of God, and yet I know I find myself easily swept up in the culture, feeling hatred grow against this person or that. It seems easy to do wrong and harder to do right. But John is clear: if we want to be children of God, that is not the path. And so I find myself daily praying, "Lord, help me love. Help me push away hatred. Help me do what is right today." Sometimes we have to pray that hourly, or minute by minute. The prayers are worth it. The world as it is will pass away. Hatred, discord, selfishness and all the rest will pass away. In the end, all that will be left is love. And that's the side I want to be on anyway.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I suddenly have a craving for mashed potatoes...