You Decide
In a way, these thoughts are a follow up to a previous article entitled “Joy that Endures.” I think the Lord desires that all his children live with enduring joy. In the article on “Joy”, I make a point to differentiate between happiness and joy. Basically, happiness results from the owning of possessions and experiencing satisfying circumstances. Of course entering into the mix would be one’s sense of values and expectations. Contrary to this, joy results from seeing God in all things and choosing to adopt his values. It makes one think about 1 John where we are instructed to not love the world nor the things it offers. Wherever we hold in our lives the values espoused by the world, God’s love will not find residence.
Returning now to the topic of this article, I believe one of the most distinguishing characteristics of our humanity, compared to the animal kingdom, is our ability to make decisions. This ability is at the core of our love for God and is what gives significance,meaning and purpose to that relationship. We either choose to love God or not. Remember that loving God means we are following his words, his commandments, and his ways. God gave us the ability of choice as being created in his image. We see the Lord exercising this trait whenever he said, “Let us make (create)…”
This decision making ability or power we have is essentially active in everything we do and most definitely alive in our responses to life’s circumstances. It is a particularly powerful faculty with the potential to establish the whole course of one’s life. The making of decisions was always meant to be guided by the commandments and wisdom of God. In following the ways of the Lord, a person would continually be shaped in the image of Christ.
All decisions have outcomes or consequences of some nature. To put it rather simply, the results of our decisions either align us with the world and what it represents or they set us in agreement with God and what he desires for our lives. In another sense, what we choose indicates whether our values are temporally or eternally oriented. This kind of thinking may appear somewhat “black or white” in nature, but isn’t that the kind of relationship with the Lord that we are called into? We tend to be rather compartmentalized in our lives. I think we can be totally sincere in our relationship with God and yet absent mindedly relegate “God things” to a designated place in our lives. It’s kind of like how we can turn the church sanctuary into a particularly sacred site where the Lord especially dwells. Wouldn’t this reflect more of an Old Testament mindset?
I am reminded of how the disciples got up and left everything to follow Jesus. For them it seemed to be a forsaking of jobs, families, and whatever fortunes they were pursuing. For us today, following Christ seems more like making him an add on to everything else in our lives. I frankly don’t think we consider the continuing and long term consequences of the myriad decisions we make.
I think one of the most difficult areas for decision making we frequently encounter is that of adversity. For one thing, we usually don’t think we deserve the trouble we’re encountering. Why me? Why now? The logical end of this sort of thinking is one of victimization. This is normally accompanied by a woe-is-me attitude. If you succumb to this kind of thinking, you will discover its domineering influence in future adversities. This kind of mentality usually leads eventually to depression.
The antidote for this malignant sort of response is to adopt an entirely new and different mode of thinking. The Word informs us that we should learn to think like Jesus. Phil. 2:5 tells us to “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” This was a mind dominated and governed by humility. Jesus simply never demanded or aspired to all that was his natural right as the Son of God. There was no “Why me, God” in him. This was principally true because Jesus’ only concern was doing the will of the Father. He therefore accepted all circumstances, not as happenstance, but as allowed or permitted by God. This was exemplified in John’s gospel when Pilot proclaimed authority to take Jesus’ life. Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above.”
In principle, Jesus is saying something that is universally true. In essence Jesus is affirming that nothing happens outside of the knowledge and permission of God. Therefore, there are no such things as chance, happenstance, or even accidents. God is in all things. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them (Rom. 8:28). To accept this you have to have an absolute, concrete, unshakable confidence in the goodness of God. You have to believe that the Lord would never allow anything to touch your life except that which is for your eternal existence and good.
Holding a belief such as this is incredibly liberating. It literally nurtures rest and peace in one’s life. It sets you free to make positive and spiritual responses in all of life’s situations. You find yourself searching to discover where God is in the present circumstances and to know what it is that he wants to accomplish in your life. Jean Pierre DeCaussade (1675-1751), a French Jesuit priest, wrote a very enlightening work entitled, Abandonment to Divine Providence. This book was later published as, The Sacrament of the Present Moment. This was all about discovering God’s purpose in all things. It meant treating every “moment” as a sacrament. This book is an extremely encouraging and helpful read.
In making our decisions, it is imperative that we understand the Lord’s ultimate intention. Above everything else, it is God’s desire that we all come into the fullness of his Son’s life. This is where the Lord can take up complete residence. For this is the wellspring of our true joy.
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Col.2:9).
