9:24 AM
God our Father created in us the ability and the capacity to choose. It is this “will” that God gave us that was not a mistake by Him. It wasn’t that He was surprised when the “will” in us opened some sort of unexpected Pandora’s Box. The creation that God made was done with His full knowledge that each person would be granted the gift of choosing. Choosing to follow, and receive blessing, or choosing not to follow, and potentially receive a harder lesson. Genesis 3 tells the story of the first choosing by Eve and Adam. They were led astray by the lies of the serpent, but still were given the glorious gift of choosing. They chose to reject God’s protective admonition, and instead, seeking their own way, ate the fruit.
The basis of a love relationship always includes the potential that love is not requited. However, true love has no strings or manipulation. I can no more “make you” love than you can make me love. If, somehow, I had the power to manipulate you into loving me, I’m sure I would be too tempted to do so, and then, you’d merely be a tool, an object, a programmable robot, no longer the glorious individual creation you are. God, in His infinite wisdom and all knowing power, chose to create love in a way that it always has freedom on the other side of it. This is the paradox of all paradoxes. You hear it in poetry, literature, and songs throughout the ages. “If you want something, let it go…” A truth behind that line or concept is that you can not truly enjoy a relationship with someone unless they also choose you. Hence, the concept of releasing another to choose is at the core of actually loving them.
God created all of us with a will, a choosing capacity inside us, it was grounded in His great love for us.
The Lord demonstrates this thousands of times throughout scripture. God makes a covenant and keeps His promises, but always left the option for His people to choose to keep the covenant with Him. It had to be a choice in order to be love.
The challenge comes in when we decide to only make life about the will. In some ways, I can no more choose what is right even though I know what is right. Information, insight and good choices are not guaranteed to produce the right decision. So – how does transformation actually happen? The tension of the Kingdom is that God the Father is at work both adopting you, empowering through the Spirit, and by the Spirit, leading you to understand the Lordship of Jesus Christ. His work is the one getting you ready to choose, then, as He transforms you, He empowers you to choose more wisely and consistently. In the end – He gets all the credit, and we don’t!
