The seeming paradox between Divine predestination and free will is one of the most difficult parts of Christian theology to adequately grasp and I do not pretend that I have the ability to do it justice, whether in this small space, or if I were to write volumes. But this is the place where I thought it apt to begin a discussion on the gentlemanly part of God’s nature and try to explain the, “Why,” behind the question of why God allowed man free will to begin with. To us, and on it’s surface, it seems as though this bestowment of free will is the one place where God may have erred.
Before anyone should want to take off my head, please note the judicious use of the word, “seems,” and the qualifier, “To us.” God can not err; that’s the long and short of it, but still it remains, to our limited understandings and finite imaginations, that many of us think that we could have come up with a better plan in the creation of man. I mean, if God was going to go all postal on us for not obeying Him, why not just make us so that we wouldn’t have the option of not obeying? A lot of people would say that, that is where God made His big mistake, but there was really no other way He could have made us.
In The Case for Faith, by Lee Strobel, Lee offers a great explanation for the reason that we have free will. Reconciling the reason that God would punish us for exercising a trait that He gave us, was one of the sticking points in my understanding God’s creation and though we are always on thin ice when we assume to know the motivation behind the works of God, (unless directly given in Scripture), it made sense that even God can not force us to love him. Though we are made in the image of God, we have the choice to either love Him, or not. The explanation is that if a gun is held to your head and the gunman demands that you love him, can it be genuine love? Of course not; it‘s merely robotic response. Love is not love unless it is freely given and in order to give love freely, we must have the option to not love. If there is only one thing to choose, then it really isn’t a choice at all, ergo; free will.
So then, God is a gentleman. He will allow us to be as stubborn and pig-headed as we wish, for as long as we wish, even to the point of loosing us to the fires of Hell. From the moment we are born we are headed away from God and toward Hell, it is up to us to turn from our own prideful desires and embrace the Lord Jesus as our personal Saviour. He does not leave us on our own to figure it all out, He gives us unending examples of His mercy and grace and sends His Spirit to open our ears so that we can hear His call. We have chosen instead, to shut Him out of our lives.
In Romans 1:18-20 we read, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - His eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” Hello! SO THAT MEN ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE! It is critical to understand that we have the ability to choose, or to choose otherwise… it’s all on us and though God could force us to, “Get it,” He doesn’t. If we are going to profess our love to him, it must be freely professed; God will not hold a gun to our heads.
So far this topic is centered around the core of our salvation but it also carries over into other areas of our lives as well. Do you have a thorn like the Apostle Paul? Have you repeatedly asked God to take it away? Is it still there? Are you surprised? The life of the Christian was never presented as one that would be without problems, in fact; the closer our walk with the Lord, the more aggressively Satan is likely to pursue us, but God remains a gentleman. Jesus tells us repeatedly that though He can compel action, He will not.
In the letter to the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3, a mirror of today’s lukewarm church, Jesus says, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Sure, He could kick in the door, but instead, He waits for us to open the door in response to His voice. It’s our move. In the miracles of Jesus, the one receiving the benefit initiated the whole thing by coming to Jesus and giving Him the burden, Jesus responds to the seeker but doesn’t generally initiate the miracles on His own. Though Jesus is willing to take our burdens, we are instructed to, “cast our burdens,” upon Him.
We are oftentimes found asking, “God please take, (something), away from me.” But still it remains. God doesn’t take things from us as much as He accepts what we are willing to give to Him. Do we still have persistent ailments or fears that He seems to be allowing in our lives? Perhaps we are unwilling to really give them up. As long as we want to keep our problems for ourselves, God will allow us to carry them. I know in my own life that until I was serious about praying, rightfully, I was still under my burden, but once I got there, it was removed. I can not say that this is the case for everyone, but as a part of my own testimony I offer this.
I began smoking when I was 10 years old. Walking to school in the 5th grade I would duck into the woods with my friends for a sneak-smoke. This turned into a pack and a half a day habit in my thirty’s and forty’s and I became a professional quitter. Oh, I quit all the time, sometimes 2 or 3 times a week, I would be hard pressed to name anyone who could quit as well as I could! But I always went back. I wasn’t really ready to give it up, I wanted God to take it away alright, but I didn’t want to give it up; I wanted to magically become a non-smoker. He took the burden from me once I finally did give it to Him but not before. It’s true, “You want something but don’t get it … You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives…” James 4:2-3.
There is a world of difference in asking for what we want as opposed to asking for God to make His glory manifest through us. Instead of asking, “Lord, please take this away from me,” we should ask, “Lord please give me the strength to endure the trial so that You may be glorified in this.” Too often our prayers are dead before they leave our lips because we are asking for what we want instead of asking to be brought into line with what God wants for us. Still, God will let us go on in our folly, though we know better, (we are without excuse), until we reach the point that we are willing to do things His way.
Whether we are talking about our prayers or our very coming to faith, God is a gentleman. He gives us everything we need to make the right choices but until we do, He will not force us. He will not, “take,” something away that we show by our actions we would rather keep, and he will not force us to love Him because to do so would be to negate love. We can not give love at the point of a gun, and neither can we please God with a life that is lived for anything other than being…
All for the Glory of Christ
