free will and the race

Continuing on this thought from this week, I do want to point out here that I talk often about God’s plan. I will tell you that he does not make mistakes, and he knows what you ware going to de before you do it. I have been asked “well, what about free will?” If God knows everything we are going to do does that mean that we cannot make our own choices?” We always have free will. God might know us, and what we will do, but we are free to make whatever choice we want.

Let’s say you have a friend….we will call him Johnny. Everyday Johnny comes over to your house. As soon as he comes into the house, he says hi, and goes straight to the kitchen pantry for something to eat. Now you have known Johnny for years, and that is what he does. One time a group of people are meeting at your house, and before Johnny shows up to tell your friends, “watch, when Johnny gets here he is going to say hi, then go straight to the kitchen for something to eat.” Sure enough Johnny shows up, says hi, and goes straight to the kitchen! Now just because you knew it, and you told everyone he would do it, does that in some way hamper his free will? Of course not! Johnny has the choice to not go to the pantry every time he comes over, but you know Johnny so well, that you know he is going to do it, before it happens.

That is what happens when you love someone, you know them, and you know their habits. That is how much the Lord loves you….and then some. God knows what you are going to do when you get to that crossroads in life, he also knows what choice you are going to make. It is your choice, but the Lord knows if you are going to head to that pantry! The difference is the Lord waits patiently, he knows if on trip number 4 million you are going to head to the pantry or not, and regardless of you choice, He has already planned out how to use that choice for good. You have free will, every hour of everyday, and the Lord knows the choice you are going to make, not because he controls you, but because he loves you so much that he knows you better than your brother, or sister, better than your spouse, he knows you better than that friend you have that you tell all of your deepest darkest times with. HE knows you and loves you that much no matter how much you love Him, if you love Him at all. He has put his plan into action, and he knows how it will end, even though we do not.

Now comes the next point we should listen to. “If you think you are standing firm be careful that you do not fall” Now you are thinking great, so I jump on this path, I am heading in the right direction, but now you are saying that I can lose everything I have worked for? Well…..in a nut shell….yes! Think of it like this. Let’s say there was a guy who ran faster than anyone on the planet. No one could even get close to him. Every race he ran he won by a huge margin. One day the runner is thinking about it, and says to himself “ya’ know….I am so fast that I don’t have to train like I do now. I am safe, I can beat anyone….in other words he feels that he is standing firm. So he quits waking up at 5 in the morning to go run, he quits running at the end of the day. What does he have to worry about? HE is the fastest in the world. On the next trip out, he wins, but he notices that the gap is not as wide, this continues to happen, each race he runs the competition gets a little closer, until finally it is a tie, then the fateful day comes and he is beaten. He thinks what happened? I was the best I could be, but now I am not even second!

We have to persevere, we have to continue to walk the path and search out Christ, just because we feel comfortable with our relationship with Christ that does not mean that the race is over. We have to keep striving to get faster. Our competition is always chasing, and always looking for an advantage. HE will exploit any weakness he can find, so the idea is not to let him get close enough to touch us, go hard after God, and the adversary will be left in the dust.

Peace,
Rev. Thetford