At the Center of It All

As my relationship with God continues to develop, my perspective about certain things keeps shifting. Lately, I’ve been thinking about the power that God has given us by allowing us free will. By doing so, he has handed us the ability to choose right or wrong, and the power of great control.

It’s simple, sometimes, to think that we are at the mercy of events and circumstances, that God is capricious or aloof, allowing things to happen that aren’t in our best interests. When bad things happen, we pray for God’s miraculous intervention. When good things happen we praise God for his blessings.

Most of the things that happen to us on a daily basis, though, aren’t inherently good or bad. Of course there is evil in the world, but I don’t believe that many of us run into it as often as we think we do. The things that we judge to be “good” or “bad” we really evaulate based on how they make us feel. The problem with this is that good things can make us feel bad and bad things can make us feel good.

The real goodness and the true miraculous intervention of God often come from the gift he already delivered: free will. We have awesome power in our hands to be creative or destructive in any situation.

Consider the parable of the Good Samaritan:

“There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.

“A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I’ll pay you on my way back.’ (Luke 10:30-35, MSG)

We know the story well, and we usually think of it as a simple story of something bad happening to the victim–through no fault of his own–and the Samaritan showing mercy and helping him, being the neighbor that Jesus tells us we should be to everyone. But consider another free will choice that took place here: that of the robber. His desttructive choice left another man beaten and bleeding on the side of the road. He did not have to do that, and I’m certain it wasn’t part of God’s plan for his life. But the Samaritan came into the situation and chose to create instead of destroy.

We each have the ability to choose to create or to destroy. If my son wins a baseball game, I can celebrate it with him and create joy, or I can hold it over him as an expectation for every game to come, destroying his love of the game. If a tragedy falls on my family, I can choose to rebuild, or I can choose to be bitter and tear down what little remains.

God desires for us to become like him. God is the Creator, and wants us to create. He gave us the power to create, but even more stunning is that he gave us the power to choose whether we will or not. In every situation, then, I need to think about what it will take to use my creative power to make something where there once was nothing. Then choose.