harbarger theory: God DOES have a plan for your life, but it's up to you to follow it!Wendy and I wanted to go to a movie tonight. We ended up choosing The Adjustment Bureau at 6:50pm at Movies 10 near Nelsonville. Was it REALLY our choice or was it part of "The Plan?" In this movie, "Fate" or "The Plan" are written by "The Chairman" (a euphemism for God).
Like usual, I don't want to offer a spoiler, so let me share less about what happens in the movie and discuss more about what the movie is all about.
The Adjustment Bureau talks a LOT about the issues of Free Will and Predestination. These two schools of thought are described in Christian theology as Arminianism and Calvinism. The Calvinist or Reformed idea is that because God is omniscient (sees all), that OF COURSE, God would determine what would happen in every bit of our lives. So, when we hear, "God has a wonderful plan for your life," some mean that explicitly. They mean that God has already determined whether you will come to faith or not, marry this person or not, succeed in life or not. Proponents of this school of thought talk about this in terms of God's sovereignty. The idea is that IF God really is sovereign, then God must control the destinies of humanity.
I'm afraid that I have never, ever been comfortable with this line of thinking. To my way of thinking, God has a plan for each of us, but it is completely up to us to follow it every step of the way ... or not. We have the ability to thwart the will of God for our lives. I know, I know ... What is God thinking?? God has placed complete choice in OUR hands? What a CRAZY idea!!! We're not equipped for that!
You don't believe me? Really? Then explain things like war, despots, serial killers, child abuse or weak and tepid coffee. Nope, we're not equipped ... or are we?
Maybe we have the capability to do amazing things, as well. You don't believe me? Really? Then explain things like millions of dollars given to help people affected by the Japan earthquake within hours of the huge rumble, people who take their own vacations to build trails in state and national parks, build homes for the poor, give of their hard-earned money to give care to people they don't even know. What is God thinking? That we have the capacity to do amazingly loving and caring things. God HAS placed complete choice in our hands. What an crazy fabulous idea! We are divinely equipped for this!
You see, this is EXACTLY what the issue is. God's will for us is to love God and to love each other. But, you see, love requires that we have be able to choose. Forced or required love is no love at all. But, when we rise to what we were created to be, we live lives of love. We love God and therefore we love our neighbors (both next door and across the globe!).
Of course, we can also choose to be selfish or hateful or simply petty. We ARE capable of incredible horrors. That is our choice.
To choose the best, we have to have the worst as a choice, as well. That's the risk that God takes. But, isn't that the risk that ll of us take when we choose to love? We take the risk that they might hurt us. Love IS a risk.
Gentle reader, God trusts you to choose love, grace and mercy. Choose it and the world will be a better place. Deny it and the world will be a darker and more dangerous place.
It's all up to you. You are free to do as you wish. Your will is, indeed, free. Our calling, though is to make Joshua's choice and say this to those around you ...
"But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and myhousehold, we will serve the LORD."
Choose love. Choose love.
harbarger theory: God DOES have a plan for your life, but it's up to you to follow it!
Posts
10 comments:
If you accept the christian concept of heaven/hell then are you held accountable for the missteps from the path God has chosen for you? Is the accounting cumulative and can you reach the requisite number of missteps to make heaven unattainable? Or can we wander along our own path, disregarding God and make a Hail Mary basket at the last moment?
Wayne, if we understand the vignette on the cross where one of the thieves hanging beside him believed and Jesus told him that today he would be in paradise, then, yes, even Hail Mary's count.
It's not the ideal, however, because you have robbed the world of your personal ministry and you have robbed yourself of experiencing the depth and the height and glories of living one's life for God.
It might punch your heaven ticket, but a person will have missed the glories of the scenery along the way. Living for one's self does not compare to the life given over to the glory of God.
Good answer Joel. Man... can't believe I just gave you a complement. :)
"God DOES have a plan for your life, but it's up to you to follow it!"
I may be arguing your point.... but I'm still not sure that God's plan is that defined that we have to "follow it." That seems too linear to me. What I mean is that God has a general will -- God want us to love our neighbor, live in right relationship, etc. But to say that God has a specific plan -- meaning "do THIS or you are out of my plan" seems a bit off to me.
Paul - Sorry for the lag. I was pondering your answer a bit. Still not sure I have a good response, but ... that's never stopped me before, has it???
I guess I believe that God DOES have more of a plan for folks' lives than the plan God has for all of us ... like you said, "God want us to love our neighbor, live in right relationship, etc."
I think God has a specific plan for me to be a pastor, and to be here on The Plains and to have been in the places I have been. I DON'T think God has a plan for what shirt I wear today or what I will have fore lunch. That's just silly. But, I think there is a more specific plan for each person than the general. You don't? Really?
If not, how do we deal with callings on our lives? Do we just love God, do good and then whatever we wish after that? No more direction than that? hmmm. Not sure I can get my heart around that one.
What do you think?
I am commenting so that the other comments get emailed to me. This is too good a conversation not to be evesdropping in on.
Talk about lag! Sorry, I kept checking your blog but didn't write. Maybe because I don't like you. :)
"But, I think there is a more specific plan for each person than the general. You don't? Really?"
I agree. But I think the specific callings might not happen as much as us discerning from general will. Yes, I believe God does call people. But...
Did God call me to marry my wife? Well... yes...and no. I think God wanted me to marry a godly woman and be committed to her. I think God calls me to love her and be faithful, etc. Laura fit the bill and has worked out very nicely. But if I would not have married Laura, would I be out of God's will? I don't think so.
OR -- two people fall in love. They love God with all of their heart, soul, mind and strength. They love each other. They think about being married. They pray about it. They fast. They get counsel. It's all green lights. They truly believe God is leading them to be married. They get married. Once married, they are not sure. They find they were young and incompatible. Then divorce. They can look back and see it was a mistake. Was it God's will to be married? Maybe they heard God wrong?
Also, "calling" might be different than "leading." I get leadings all the time.
This makes no sense, but I'm out of time and have to go. So I withdrawal this comment and don't stand by it. :) It's a raw thought.
Two important lines were accidentally erased after two of the sentences. I'm not sure how this happened but it must have posted an earlier draft:
"They get married. Once married, they are not sure."
Next line: They drift. They don't work on their relationship.
"Was it God's will to be married? Maybe they heard God wrong? "
The next line should be:
"Which is more important or more true: the initial hearing of God calling them to marry, or the general will of God for them to build their marriage and work things out."
Paul, yea, I agree. It's all romantic and stuff that there is the "ONE" person that God has designed for you! You better hope they don't live in Timbuktu when you live in Podunk, Ohio! Sleepless in Seattle notwithstanding.
Leading may be a better term, but it may also be splitting semantic hairs. IF calling is about a whole life commitment, then I agree, leading is the right term. BUT, if calling can be for just a season, then it's a semantic difference.
However, in your marriage scenario, I would also suggest that if a couple went through all that and
"They get married. Once married, they are not sure.
They drift. They don't work on their relationship.' I suggest that they weren't committed to the vows they took, the calling/leading they had, or to God in general. Marriage is not all romance and giggles. Sometimes, it's about commitment and toughness. Sometimes it's about growing up, putting on your big girl panties and doing the right thing.
Someone once said, "Marriage is a great institution! That is, if you like living in institutions!!"
I think we generally agree (I HATE to admit that in public!!). There is a general will of God for our lives and there are things in our lives that are callings/leadings toward specific things. Not everything, mind you! Not even all the biggees (like marriage and so forth), but there are some things.
And some things we do, even if we have absolutely no idea what God's will would be. That's why Kierkegaard called it a "leap of faith."
Just got back from a great road trip and want to rejoin this discussion. I understand that God may have a general plan for humanity (Thou shall not ...), and I can grasp that people who have become an integral part of a religious movement would feel a comfort that God is guiding their life choices. However for the rest of us the concept of a personal path is antithetical to the philosophy of personal responsibility and accountability. Too often "God's will" is used to justify personal behavior that is harmful and outside of societal norms.
Wayne - while I agree that people try to "baptize" their own inclinations by claiming spiritual leadings, I think we all see through it.
However, it's disingenuous to throw out all "leadings" or "callings" just because some idiots do horrible or stupid things "because God told them to."
Similarly, we could say that we should throw out all laws because some people do immoral (but marginally legal) things. Just because some claim a higher authority for bad behavior doesn't make the higher authority culpable. It just belies the moral depravity and personal cowardice of the perpetrators.
Unless the perceived "lawful or right behavior" is truly wrong, the calling we receive is not about illicit or unlawful behavior. Rather, it is more likely to be about doing things that go against the self-centered grain of our normal behavior and that's usually a VERY good thing.
Post a Comment