What is Will?

What is God's will? This is a question every Christian asks. In fact, the more we ask it, the harder this question becomes. Some people will tell you that God's Will is sovereign What that means is that nothing happens outside of His will. They reach this conclusion by realizing that God is omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient, (all knowing) and omnipresent (everywhere). Therefore, they assume that all that happens is what He want to have happen. They will confidently tell you that all things are in God's will and no matter what happens God wanted it to happen. That has to be true right? Because God is all powerful?

"Hold on a minute," I hear you say. "Then God wanted Hitler to kill all those people? God wanted man to sin? God wanted Lucifer to become the Devil? Do you mean that God wants rape, murder, kidnapping, and theft to happen?" This is indeed what that would mean. John Wesley said it well when he said: "this makes God worse than the Devil."

How could God ask, even demand, us to follow His Laws, claim to be Holy and Just, and do all these things? Doesn't that make God a sinner? The worst sinner in history? Would that not make God the Father of Lies?

Yes, it would.

As you can see, I do not agree with that teaching. I believe that God is indeed all-powerful. But I believe God is powerful enough to create beings that have their own free will. Free will is the most powerful thing God created, and He gave it to us. To humans.

What does this mean? Well it means that God created a perfect world, put people in it, then let them choose. There cannot be freewill without choice. God wants to have children that love Him. But love must be a choice. You do not love something if you could not choose anything else. That would not be love, it would be menial attachment by proxy. No, God wanted free children that loved Him. So He gave them the choice to love or leave.

Now, people did eventually choose to leave God. They disobeyed Him. Adam and Eve did so in the Garden. Here we find the first human choice against God's will. He desired to have them follow Him forever, but they did not. They broke His command. This was not His will. His will was for them to love Him and love on another. In disobeying Him, they did not follow Him.

Now we come to the most important question of this post. WAS IT GOD'S WILL FOR THEM TO DISOBEY HIM? If it was, then they were not disobeying Him, they were following His will. If that is true, they should not be punished. But God did punish them, He condemned them for disobedience. If it was disobedience, it was not His will. God does not EVER want people to disobey Him. He does not want people to kill, rape, or steal. But, true to His word, He gives us that choice. But He will punish us in the end if we disobey.

In the end, we cannot say that God hates lies and at the same time say that all lies told are part of His will. We cannot say that God does not sin and then state that all sin is part of God's will. The problem with this line of thinking is that people don't understand the difference between Power (God's omnipotence) and freewill (God's gift to man) There cannot be sin without it being against God; and God cannot will sin as it is against Him. Therefore, not all things are part of God's will.

Now, I have no doubt that God COULD force His will on us. He could squash us all in a second. But that is not what He asks. He asks us to choose to follow Him. He will not force us to do so. This is not for lack of power. In fact, the very nature of our freewill shows just how powerful God is.

Conclusion

Lying, theft, rape, murder; all these things are not part of God's will. I believe that He mourns with us. But He will not take away freewill. For to do so is to take away the reason He created us. So what is God's will? Simple: love the LORD your God with all your mind, soul, and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself. Remember, God wants you to choose, and He will let you, no matter what. Choose wisely, my friend.