Scripture: John 7:17
Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own.
Thought for the Day: There are so many different thoughts on whether God controls our decisions or not. Even before Christianity, Jewish philosophers and mystics were pondering these ideas and their implications. Tomorrow in worship, we will take a little journey down the road of the providence of God, freewill, sin and other theological concepts that may seem very abstract and academic, but have real implications when a person has been knocked down. When I read words like these from John’s Gospel, I infer a choice, a free choice, that is made by someone to do the will of God. Of course, there are many pressures and influences on that choice – history, experience, context, tradition, health, happiness or lack there of, the Spirit, etc. Some would even say there is no freewill, that all choices are actually determined by these influences (some conscious, some unconscious). For me, I tend to (maybe naively) put love as the starting place from which we can best understand freewill and God’s involvement. Love, in its truest sense, cannot be love if it is forced or coerced. I am certain there are many influences, chemical and neurological, that influenced the love I feel for my wife. At the same time, there was a moment, I believe, when I made the decision to give myself in love to another human being. In regard to faith, I know my family influenced me greatly, but there have been moments in my journey when I have consciously made the choice to love the Lord and to follow in the ways of Jesus. And I also know there have been moments in my life when I have consciously decided to not love the Lord and to not follow in the ways of Jesus. That is sin, and I cannot fathom how God would want me to accept responsibility for sin if I never actually had the power to choose it. It is clearly complicated, but Jesus’ life seems portray an image of God that is not coercive or controlling, but humble and inviting and full of love that hopes to woo the human spirit toward true life.
Prayer: Gracious God, your love is immeasurable and eternal. It is the defining power in the universe, for you are love. When we choose to align ourselves with love, we are aligning ourselves with you and with the very fabric of the universe. Let us begin every day with the conscious choice to live in that love and to put love first in all things. Amen.
SEE YOU TOMORROW
