Your Will
- 40 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Author Oswald Chambers said, “The most profound thing within a person is his will, not sin.” The will of a person determines direction and purpose in life, and is the determining factor in following God … or not. God created our will to be free to choose, and that choice is not God’s, nor this world … it is your will that makes the choices. James 4:7 says, “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” The power to resist evil, sin, and this world is your choice. When we choose to follow God, the Holy Spirit comes alongside us to proclaim God’s Word, and strengthens us to execute on our choices. God is not in the business of overriding your will … He allows you the freedom to choose. Free will … it’s your choice. ~Larry Kutzler, Facebook Post
I have always been disturbed by doctrines that are not directly spelled out in the Bible. Many doctrines, such as Calvinism, are not directly found in the Scriptures, but is what theologians called eisegesis … the interpretation of a text by reading into it one’s own ideas. Calvin wrote at a time when the Protestant movement was underway, and people were afraid if they left the Church they had known since birth, they would be excommunicated and have no chance of getting into Heaven. Calvin had to dispel the fears of the people, and positioned God with a foreknowledge of predestination and eternal security. Western theologians who ascribe to Calvinism must invent new meanings to passages of Scripture they say prove Calvin’s theology.
The Bible clearly spells out that only the Jews were predestined by God to be the messengers who ultimately brought forth a Messiah for the world. When we begin to assert that God chose people before the foundation of the world to be saved or condemned, seems to be counterproductive for a God who gave us free will. If we can’t choose to follow Jesus, because we were originally chosen to do so, why then the free will? The Bible is clear, we choose … not God, not doctrine, no one other than the individual whose will is free from the control of anyone, especially free from a God who predetermines eternity for us.
I have learned that if it is not clearly spelled out in the Scriptures, any concept, teaching, or doctrine must be held suspect and tested to see if it is of God. There are many such beliefs today that are not supported by Scripture, Calvinism is one along with the Prosperity Gospel, Dominionism, the Hyper Grace Movement, and Progressive Christianity. There are also trends that are not healthy because they do not give the full counsel of God on how to live out a life of faith.
Job 2:10 Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad? So, in all this, Job said nothing wrong.
There is a trend today where God is good all the time, yet our loved ones still die from disease, accidents, and fall away from the faith. There are tragedies we cannot explain, but they happen, so is God good in those incidents? The trend is to be positive and victorious at all costs, and don’t talk about the things that go wrong … it’s too risky to cast any doubt about God’s provision and oversight. There are a lot of us who are limp today because of something that went wrong in our lives or our families. A limp doesn’t mean we failed … it means we experienced something that left us affected. People who avoid talking about the limps in life deny that even a limp can be a healing. Limps are reminders of how God often works, like Jacob, who wrestled with God, and afterward walked with a limp.
My point is simple. If what we are teaching is sprinkled with our bias, our interpretation, our desires, and we fail to address the limps in life, our message is worthless. Just because the Church has accepted a doctrine that has been around a long time, or is practiced by many, doesn’t make it something that is from God. Remember, Jesus told us that false prophets and teachers would proliferate prior to His return, and they will use Scripture to prove their points, but the truth is not there.
1 Thessalonians 5:21 But test everything; hold fast to what is good.
1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
A simple theology to live by … if it isn’t spelled out in Scripture, it isn’t truth
Challenging the Culture with Truth … Larry Kutzler