When I first started this blog specifically and wanting to write in general I did it primarily because of my thoughts on a particular subject. That subject was paradox and it became my first post ever. I had come to a conclusion on how our relationship with God was supposed to be and how we were supposed to do it. As a review, my thoughts are that the purpose for God creating paradox in His commands for us was that it was impossible to achieve without His help which led to the need for relationship with Him for successful living. Part of my thought process at the time was to explore individual and specific instances of paradox in Christian living, but as anybody with ADD knows we sometimes get sidetracked. Well, I have many specific instances of what I consider paradox in my mind and while I am probably not going to cover them all right away, I would like to start covering some of them.

The first one I want to talk about is our alleged free will and God’s will. I use the word alleged because I don’t really believe that we have the ability to do whatever we want. We have certain choices that we can make, but I don’t think that we universally can do what we want. There are limits to ability and circumstance and therefore they limit our choice. The reality is that, as Christians, I think that we have less choice than even non-Christians because by our decision to accept salvation we have put ourselves under the governing power of God. I don’t, by any means, see this as restrictive, but I see it as protective and part of the gift that God has given us. So, where is the limit to our choice? Great question, and I wish I had an answer to it, but I don’t. I think, in general, that, as humans, we think that we have way more control than we think we do.

The Bible talks about the spiritual conflict going on behind the scenes that truly is guiding individuals and principalities around the world and I do not think that we fully understand the impact of the spiritual realm. Maybe a discussion for later. The one thing that I know for sure is that we do have some choices. God has given us the ability to impact our lives and our eternal destiny and these choices are the most important of all. Interestingly enough, the most important and most personal choice of whether to accept Christ’s salvation is influenced by the drawing of the Holy Spirit. I don’t want to make the Christian life more complex than it already is and I think that we remove much complication with one major choice. That choice is to give up our right to choose and to give it to God. When we subject ourselves to His will, and it is a choice. then we will more feel His unction on our lives. The ultimate goal is total submission.

What about God’s will. Some would say that God has orchestrated and is orchestrating everything and that we shouldn’t even bother trying to do anything and some would say that God set the wheels in motion after creation and we are on our own to make destiny. I do not believe either of these. I believe that God has a perfect will or destiny for the world and it will occur. I believe that God has a perfect will or destiny for every individual who ever existed, but He has allowed for the choice that He has given His creation. I think that this applies to Christians and non Christians alike. We are all His children and God wants all to come to salvation, but the reality is that according to the Bible the majority will not be saved. This leads some to believe that God is really not in control, but His choice to allow humans to choose does not diminish His power it only confirms it.

Many people equate power with circumstance and outcome, but God equates power with authority. God has authority and we do not. He has given us a choice and some have extrapolated that out to that He has given us authority. I guess this is where the paradox is. Do we have choice, yes. Is God in total control, yes. I think that these are both true and the discussion about whether they are true is not the issue. The issue is what impact do these truths have on our life. One of my life verses is seek ye first the kingdom and all other will be added. I interpret it this way. God says that His perfect will is that the only thing that we worry about is following and worshiping Him and that He will take care of all other details in life. The impact of thinking and doing this is deep and profound, but it answers the paradox that we are discussing.