I choose to assert that I am god, every time I choose my will over His will.
Can that really be right? Didn’t God give us free will, and if so, then how can it be offensive to God for us to act in the way he designed? Maybe the question can be asked a different way: is there a responsible, respectful way to assert the talents and gifts that God has given me, while not crossing the line into disobedience and acting like I am god?
I think, perhaps, that although sometimes God’s will for my life might be very specific, most times it’s more general, more about principles, more about motives, more about my heart. Sometimes He may nudge me to do or say something particular (“hey, you need to go help that person do this particular thing!”, or “you should pray for and with that person…”). And choosing not to do or say that thing is a form of disobedience. But, maybe more often, what God wills is that I act with a pure heart, in his image.
If I go about my day-to-day activities in a way that honours God and that sits on a foundation that says God is my good King whom I wish to please, that’s a good start. That perspective may not help me choose a red car versus a white car, or even whether to accept a job offer when we’re wrestling with a decision. But it should help us “decide” between harbouring prejudices and loving strangers as fellow humans. It should give us guidance in our approach to problems: do we react to a situation out of fear, or judgement, or pride, or do we (by starting with the perspective that we honour God by following Jesus’ lead) act fearlessly, assertively but lovingly, humbly but filled with God-given confidence?
If I get into the habit of acting “with a pure heart”, beginning with the premise that everything I have comes from and “belongs” to our loving, creating father God, isn’t this also a means to tap into a clearer channel for his direction? “Not my will, but yours.” What if we started every plan, every journey, every action, every thought – with that premise? And, if we put that into the context of our original relationship – our condition in Eden – does it give shape to this duality of our will within his will? If we:
- Recognize God alone as God
- Acknowledge all as his
- Acknowledge God as Good
- Repent (yes, the “R”-word) from our sins – sins that foundationally involve trying to take god-hood from God
- Submit – willingly, lovingly say yes to obedience
- Accept God’s unfathomable love for us
- Understand what he gives us and offers us
- Recognize that we not only don’t need more, but that to assert our need for more is to reject him, his love, his gifts, his strength
- “Abide” in him – spend time listening to God and talking to him; bow our knee to Jesus, our risen King; hang out with the Holy Spirit as we go about our days, both busy and quiet ones
If we do these things, will we find ourselves on the same “wavelength” again as God, with direction being clear? Will peace, above all, become our perspective? Would this bring us closer to a reality wherein “Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven”?
And what would this look like if, instead of a single individual’s medicine, it became a prescription for a broken world? Could we regain a new Eden, if we gave back what we illegitimately coveted and stole? How close would we be if, collectively, we repented and acknowledged everything about you, God, that is true?