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Jun 27
2009
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What is God's Will?Posted by Peter and Helen Evans in Orthodoxy   |
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God's Will and Doing the Right Thing
We've been hearing alot of people being depressed about the economy, about government, about alot of things in their life. Some are just giving up, some won't watch TV or listen to the news anymore. Some are taking a different approach that is truly fatalistic. They are saying it's God's will and implying that all is as it should be and we shouldn't mess with it.
Someone is going to lose their home, oh well, it's God's will, don't worry. Someone loses their life's savings, it's God's will, nothing to fuss about. Government is moving to remove freedoms for which, we were reminded of this weekend, thousands of lives were sacrificed, and oh well, it's God's will, nothing we can do about it.
What's wrong with these attitudes? For one thing, they are forgetting that there are different types of God's will. One of sovereign will, that means it's going to happen no matter what. We don't know much about these except one called the second coming. That will happen, no matter what we do.
However, there is another type of God's will that current culture has just about thrown away. Providential Will. That's the will that allows us to have free will and to choose to do the right thing.
Let's take an example. This Monday we went to our favorite thrift store which had everything at 50% for the holiday. We got a few things and along the way Peter saw a hat he needed. He tried it on, and left it on with the tag hanging off it. The store was like Christmas Eve, crowded and every cashier was very busy. We paid our $5.50 for our 6 items and walked out. Outside we marveled at our bargains and then Peter realized he still had the hat on with the price tag, the cashier never noticed it; nor did he. Well, what should we have concluded from the situation? We could have thought that God "bought us the hat". After all wasn't it God's will that we walked out without paying? That's what some of the current culture thinks about these things, but it's wrong.
What happened was that it was God's will that we were given the opportunity to do the right thing. We were given the opportunity go back and pay the $1.25 for the hat.
So what are we to get from all this? Do the right thing. Don't take the fatalist approach; that approach that takes away your part of using your free will to do what's right. It's God's will that you do what's right.
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written by mark kiproff, July 15, 2009
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