What if I wasn't a minister? What if I never responded to the call? What if I never went to seminary? What if I pursued to see where design would lead me? There are some days more often than I want, I question that. And yes I shouldn't. But then I'm human, some would say I'm entitled to question it. Some would say you make your own destiny (Prince of Persia). Some would say God's got it laid out for you. I like this way better, but then what if I really don't like it? Am I being selfish? Am I being disobedient to question God's will? If God provides for us the bestest thing ever of eternal life and the gift of salvation on the cross, wouldn't I want to follow what He has planned for me? The tension is we're selfish. We want to do the things we want to do and often we rationalize our way out of the things God wants us to do.Where do we go from this dilemma? Try something different? Take some time off? Sulk and whine about it? Become a bum? Avoid doing work, wait I think I'm at that point. A step closer to being a bum. Isn't there something wrong when the one thing that led me to do this is not burning as high anymore? That's why Mike Yaconnelli is right...
"The absence of passion results in a grim pallor over our lives, the absence of highs and lows. When there is no passion we live our lives in the smoky fog of sameness. Life loses its distinctions and we no longer see the nuances, the tiny differences. We no longer feel our feelings. They become dull and insensitive. Life without passion is life without texture, contrast, and depth. We walk through life trancelike, going through the motions of living, emotionless, getting through each day, getting by, ending our lives lost and directionless, busy doing something that turns out to be nothing, focusing on what doesn't matter, missing what does."
I can't believe you referenced to Prince of Persia!!!! LOL
ReplyDeleteThe real issue is where our passions lie. Does God fit on the list? Is He our one true passion?
ReplyDeleteYeah I hear ya...but what if you don't want to do what God wants us to do??????? He is our true passion, but the "our" group is pretty small and gets hard after a while.
ReplyDeleteSubmission - it's not just for wives!
ReplyDeleteYup. A word to remember everyday. One of those annoying words that never go away. It's almost in the Holy Spirit's job description. Can we then argue that most of the time our free will to act on something or to do something is wrong??
ReplyDeleteOf course. We are sinners, so it would follow that our desires that motivate our actions are usually (though not always) rooted in sin. We have to change/purify/redirect from the inside out.
ReplyDeleteDoes it prompt/email you that I've commented? Great answers, now when its actually time to apply...do we? Would you mind sharing if there has been an incident?
ReplyDeleteI would venture to say, (again not a biblical answer, and maybe I can find one) but what if my free will wants to do something that's isn't necessarily wrong, but not in the Lord's will? Like you have 2 choices, both choices are inherently good-where's the sin in that? On top of that, which one is the right (God's will) choice? You follow?
Because I would definitely agree that whenever we express our free will for something or to do something it's usually underlined by our sinful nature. But how about when it comes to choices-like which college? Which job to take, etc...? Is it a sin to go to one college over the other?
No, it does not notify me, which is really annoying. I'm new to blogging, so maybe there's a way; I just don't know it yet!
ReplyDeleteWe're really good at rationalizing our sin. We'll convince ourselves of one reason for doing something, when in reality, we have a different motive (something self-serving, usually). I'm trying to think of an example, but they're so subtle that we don't even call them out as sin. OK, I'm usually pretty critical (of everything and everyone). It helps in my copy editing, but not always in real life. I will often criticize someone (maybe just to Jayson) and convince myself it's because of something they did. "This person is so weak because they go drinking all the time." I'm sinning, and my real motive is to slam that other person, no matter how much I tell myself I'm just venting to my hubby, or want that person to change because I care about them, or convince myself that I'm saying it because of what they did (so it's their fault I'm saying it). I hope that makes sense. Ultimately, I'm the sinner because my heart wasn't clean and I purposely and knowingly talked poorly about someone, all the while blaming their own actions as the cause of my criticism. No, I just have a critical heart, so that's MY sin.
As for free will and making decisions, not every crossroad leads to a sin-or-no-sin decision. Eating eech for lunch instead of mujadara does not mean I made a wrong/sinful decision. Some decisions are much more impactual on our lives, especially if they affect others. Choosing college, for example, may not be a sin-or-no-sin decision, but one may definitely be a better choice, so that's where prayer and discernment comes in. How liberal is one college over the other? What's the environment like? Will being at one cause you to sin more than being at the other one?
The other thing to remember is that just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean that you should. I can get a job, and it's not wrong to contribute financially to my household, but should I? It would keep me away from my boys. I can buy a $200 pair of shoes instead of a $50 pair, but should I? Even if we could afford it, is that being a good steward of our money and a good example to those watching me?
Great points. With regards to faults, I'm wired that way too. 4 years of design didn't help in seeing the beauty of things, especially of people. And being a minister it's even harder, and unfortunately Tamar gets the grunt of my venting. LOL. And a lot of the time she doesn't understand it, because in my wiring it makes sense.
ReplyDeleteIf you could afford the $200 shoes, why wouldn't you? Meaning if you made enough, tithed properly and still had the money, why wouldn't you? It's so odd how sometimes, do we have to be 'called' to fashionably yuk (couldn't come up with a better word), because we're Christians?
It's not about fashionably yuk. Style doesn't take money. High fashion/couture, yes. But style can be had on any budget. The question is, just because I can reasonably afford $200 shoes, does that mean I should go ahead and do it? Maybe, if it's a special occasion, yes. But couldn't that money be spent on better things? (This is reminding me of Peter's admonition to Mary Magdalene over the alabaster vial.) So that was my whole point - if you're doing everything else right, it's not a sin to treat yourself to $200 shoes. But maybe saving that money for an upcoming vacation or for your kid's next tuition payment may be smarter. I think you just have to weigh your choices, and your perspective and the choices you make definitely change as you get older.
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