Skip to main content

God Is Love 20


                One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? (Romans 9:19-21) 

God’s will is that attribute of God whereby he approves and determines to bring about every action necessary for the existence and activity of himself and all creation (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 211) 

          Discussing God’s will requires that one walk through a mine-field. At any moment, you may step on an ego and someone may explode. Sometimes, the irritation is with the notion that anyone’s will matters more than our own.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul   
                                                          (William Ernest Henley Invictus)
         Sometimes, the irritation is with the notion that if God’s will is sovereign, then we cannot be blamed for what we do. Then people start using adjectives to describe the will involved: sovereign, permissive, necessary, free, secret, revealed…. I like to describe God’s will as a road. Sometimes, it’s a highway with multiple lanes. Pick any lane, you’re still in God’s will. Other times, it narrows to a one inch ledge along the face of a cliff, and the narrow, but fifty-foot long bridge we crossed to get to that ledge collapsed as we stepped off of it.
         Fortunately, today we don’t need to address the issue of God’s will in great detail. Instead, we need only explore whether or not love has will. As the definition of love we have been using is that love seeks what is in the best interest of the beloved, it seems clear to me that love is more about will than it is about feelings. It’s a good thing, too, because feelings change constantly. Our will may be weak and inconstant, but love strengthens it.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more