Monday, December
11, 2017
I once saw a cartoon in the newspaper that had a little boy sitting in time-out
in the corner of the room. His brow was
furrowed in an awful scowl; he was not a happy camper! His head was turned as if to see where the parent
was who had consigned him to such a reprehensible punishment, and there was a
thought balloon over his head; it said: I may be sitting on the outside, but on the
inside I’m standing tall!
The prophet gives us this look at the fiercely independent nature of the
human spirit. We may be ruled
in the sense that others have the power to tell us what to do in school, job, law
enforcement, or, in the extreme, as one conquering army enslaves citizens of
the conquest. But in all these the fact
remains constant that you cannot take away freedom of thought. You may influence a person’s thought process, even to the extent
of coercing certain behavior or getting them to say or sign-off on some action
which is against their will. But therein
is the rub; against the will
is a phrase that defines free will, the fact that you can strong-arm a person’s
body, but the will of human spirit is a free agent. It’s an inside job!
We have seen this indomitable quality of free will illustrated time and
again in heroic soldiers taken in battle, imprisoned and tortured, but who
refuse to break. We have seen this will imposed
to change whole cultures with leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Wilberforce,
and movements of the powerless masses that culminate in an iconic standoff at a
place like Tiananmen Square.
Enter the concept of worship!
Scripture declares that we are created in the image of God, and that
means we have a purpose like God’s purposes.
In the mix of that is a natural bent to worship and love God. But even so, God has chosen to not tamper
with the free will of human beings, preferring that we give ourselves willingly
to love Him, rather than God coercing us into obedience. God will and does work in the affairs of
human beings to reveal Himself to us, and let us know His desire for
relationship, but He has placed as off-limits (even for Himself) that piece of
us on the inside that makes choices.
That places a huge gift of choice, and an even greater consequence of the
weight of our actions, squarely in our own hands. What it means is, ultimately we can never
claim victim status
when it comes to God; he has given us totally absolute sovereign choice over
our eternal destination.
But the greatest realization that comes along with this gift of choosing
whom we will, or will not, love and worship is the undeniable fact that God is
rooting for us to come to Him so he can bless us beyond measure!
For You
Today
What
will you do with this incredible, holy, and sacred gift of free will? Whom will you love and worship?
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