Whatever is Right

Dylan celebrating his 14th birthday at Sunday School at Church. 

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

"Let me give you my password, Mama..." said Dylan as he waited for me to grab paper and pen to write it down.  It took me, what seemed like an eternity to react/respond. I think it was pure shock what kept me from moving immediately.  I think he was surprised to, so he just began saying the password while I was still staring into the void, unmovable...finally, after he repeated it a couple of times, I snapped out of it, fiddled through my junk drawer and found a piece of paper and a pen to record the important piece of information Dylan was volunteering without my prompting...as I wrote the combination of letters and digits, finally my mind cleared up and I realized the reason for my shock:  Dylan had chosen to do the right thing on his own...

I know it sounds harsh, but 14 year-old boys don't usually think about, much less actually do the right thing on their own accord.  Maybe yours do, but my sons need lots of priming.  Dylan is particularly stubborn ... all the time ... anyway.  The thing is that finally, after about a year and a half of Dylan begging, demanding, reasoning, explaining, rationalizing, manipulating, psycho-persuading us on why he needed a cellphone, this weekend, he got one for his birthday....sigh...I'm still getting used to the idea; but he got it.  For as long as he has been wanting a phone, Dan and I have been telling him about all the rules and conditions he would have to follow and meet in order for us to even begin thinking about the remote possibility of him having one.  One of the conditions/rules that we established from the beginning was that he was going to have to tell us his password and that he was going to have to leave his phone in our room at night before going to bed: the no phone to bed rule.

When he got the phone, we allowed him to enjoy it without bringing the rules back to his face right away.  He worked on it all afternoon, trying to figure out the features and getting used to the idea of having his own phone.  We never mentioned anything about the password or about the no phone to bed rule.  We gave him some space.  I wasn't even thinking about asking him for his password...and that's when he surprised me by giving it to me without me even asking.  At the end of the night, he carried the phone to our bedroom and placed it on my dresser, where we had instructed him, what seemed like a million years ago, that would be its place at night.  He thanked us for the gift, hugged us and kissed us good night (no, he did not kiss the phone, which was very surprising to me) and went to bed...leaving me with a sense of awe, praising the Holy Spirit for helping Dylan make the right choices...at least for today...

Like Paul says, "whatever is right" ... in this world where right and wrong seem to no longer be a standard of behavior, as Christians, we must consciously and intentionally decide to choose "whatever is right."  And for us, "whatever is right" is right in Scripture.  This means, it would be impossible for us to think and do whatever is right if we do not know His Word...

Think about it... how would we decide what is right if we don't know what God says? We would be swept away in the confusion of this world without the Word!  The world tries to define things apart from God.  In our moments of decision, let's not forget that our standard is the Bible!  Let's make sure we know the Word of God as well as we can, so when the prince of this world tries to deceive us, we don't even have to go look, because we have internalized His Commands... Let's make His Word our own, so when the road gets foggy, we have the Light that makes it bright and clear right here with us.  This way, we'd know which path to follow and how to direct our steps.  Let's drill Scripture into our minds, so it comes to us in our moments of doubt, clearing up the way, prompting us to think and do whatever is right.

I know Dylan is going to make mistakes with that darn phone.  I know he will misuse it to the point that we will have to take it away for long seasons...but for now, I am rejoicing in the fact that it is possible to choose to think and act the right way...as long as we know what that is.