“Mister, Are You God?”

Bible Reading: Psalm 145:8-13

The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.   Psalm 145:13, NIV

CHRISTIAN YOUTH SPEAKER and author Doug Fields has shared a story of an event that happened after World War II.

At the end of that devastating war, much of Europe lay in ruins. Buildings had been bombed and burned out, streets lay under dust and rubble, and many orphaned children wandered the streets, picking among the ruins for clothes and food.

Early one morning an American soldier was driving his jeep through the war-torn streets of London. As he turned a corner, he spied a little boy, dressed in rags. The boy stood with his nose pressed against the steamed window of a pastry shop. Inside, the cook was working a large lump of dough for a fresh batch of doughnuts.

The soldier pulled his jeep to the curb and stopped. He got out, strode into the little shop, and bought a dozen doughnuts. Then he left the store and offered the bag of fresh doughnuts to the boy. “Here,” he said. “I bought these for you.”

The boy looked at the soldier with wide eyes and took the bag. But as the soldier started to return to his jeep, he felt a hearty tug on his coat. He turned back and faced the boy.

“Mister,” the boy asked, his eyes still wide, “are you God?”

What made that boy ask such a question? What could have made him think that an American soldier driving a jeep could be God? That’s easy. Something in that soldier’s actions reminded the little boy of God. That “something” was love.

That soldier did something very good, something right, when he bought those doughnuts for that boy. It was a loving act, a caring act. And it was right for one reason: It was something God might have done. That boy mistook that soldier for God because love comes from God. That’s why love is right (and hatred is wrong)—because God is loving. The Bible says, “The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made” (Psalm 145:13, NIV). When you are loving, you are doing right, because love is like God.

REFLECT: Have you treated someone else lovingly today? Have you treated someone else hatefully today? Which is right and which is wrong? Why? Do you need to change the way you’ve been treating anyone?

ACT: The next time you eat a doughnut, remember the soldier and the hungry boy, and remind yourself that love is right because God is love.

PRAY: “God, I know that love is right because you are loving. Help me to love others, just like you do.”