Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“The children of God and the children of the devil are revealed in this way: all who do not do what is right are not from God, nor are those who do not love their brothers and sisters.”
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, July 3, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
But what is “right”? There are plenty of people and groups and institutions out there trying to convince us that their particular idea of rightness is the one God would endorse. They interpret ancient scripture written for a particular context as fully applying to our modern paradigm and try to enforce behavior that oppresses women, for example, or justifies slavery, or condemns homosexuality, or all manner of other social injustices. They can (and do) decide that anyone who doesn’t follow their particular interpretation of “right” is a child of the devil, as the writer of 1 John puts it. And that’s kind of scary. But the second half of this verse offers a balance to the first: bottom line is that we have to love our brothers and sisters, our “siblings” and that, my friends, is every single human being, as every single human being is created by God in God’s own image and loved unconditionally. So if your definition of “right” causes you to withhold love (love is active, not just a passive feeling) from your siblings, then your definition is wrong.
What is “right?” Loving your neighbor as yourself. Full stop.
How do I determine what is right and wrong on a day to day basis?
