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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.  

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