Adventures in Missions is looking for blogs about choice. The idea is to discuss the power of choice — a drug addict choosing to get clean, a woman choosing to leave the sex trade. The power of choice connects the pastor’s I’ve met, who have chosen to continue ministry after being beat to near death, to friends who have chosen to delete their Facebook accounts.
Sadly, most people don’t walk in the full capacity of free will. Freedom of choice is something that shapes our entire paradigm for life. For any philosophers or theologians — free will, itself, can be an entirely different topic, but I want to keep it simple for the sake of this blog. I believe that we have free will, and want to focus on how that impacts our lives.
In July, we were in a village in Nepal. There are many Hindu extremists in the government trying to crack down on Christianity. As a result, we could not do much ministry outside of the place where we stayed. We taught Bible studies, guitar lessons, piano lessons, hung out, and slept all in the same area. We were stuck for a month. It was tough, to say the least.
Last month, we were in India, where government is also being influenced by Hindu extremism. They have become very intolerant to Christianity. We could not leave the compound where we lived, unless it was to go to ministry in the villages about two hours away.
I cannot say where we lived, or our host’s name for security reasons, but each night Monday-Friday we left to go pray, run services, and fellowship in villages; then all mornings, afternoons, and weekends we were stuck in a compound.
The ministry and relationships were great, but that’s two months of being cooped up with the same group of people 24/7. I don’t care how much you like your friends, that’s hard.
Weird things happen when you get bored enough… Credit to my stylist, Talia Linde. And my inspiration, RiffRaff.
It would be easy to say, “What is God’s plan in this?” and wait around all month in India for God to show us why we were sitting in a compound, while simultaneously getting frustrated with the monotony. I see this mentality all the time. Drug addicts I used to work with in half-way houses would say, “I’ll get a job on God’s time.” and Christians, “I just wish God would show me what I’m supposed to do.” I’ve even caught myself saying things like, “It’ll happen according to God’s plan.”
This all presupposes that there is a destiny and that God has already planned the whole thing out. Some people may squirm at this disagreement, and entire books have been written explaining different understandings of this, but I will keep my case as simple as possible — it has always felt like a cop out to me. “I don’t have to make a decision, because God already has.”
We have free will!
Every day I can choose to bring the culture of the Kingdom of God (to quickly define “Kingdom”, the idea of what things would look like if God, who is Love, were literally king of the world). A Kingdom whose economy runs on love and selflessness.
If we tangibly experienced God’s love (as if God were literally King) every day, it would be easy to love ourselves the way that God loves us. We could then love others, the way that we love ourselves. It would be a world run on selfless, unconditional love. Idealist hippie mumbo-jumbo always sounds good, but is difficult to live out. Many days I am so far from living this way, that it’s almost like I am going through life asleep.
I can always count on Lindsey Duerr to capture me at my best.
But I often become conscious in moments and have beautiful experiences in the Kingdom of God.
A few of us randomly hopped out of the van, and chased a few kids up to the top of a water tower, where we goofed around and watched the sunset.
One of the greatest nuggets of wisdom I think we have in the new testament is that we will “reap what we sow.” (Galatians 6:7-8)
We have the decision to sow into whatever we want, but our lives will reap accordingly. With every decision, I can invest in the shallowness of my own pride, or grow into a deeper existence. Full disclosure, I do both every day.
I have met some pastors who continued ministry after getting beat multiple times. They did not make just one choice to continue ministry after those beatings.
I know drug addicts who have been clean for years. One comes to mind who was a middle school drop-out and did not know how to read at the age of 30 when he got clean. He’s now a big biker, with tattoos, a long beard, and has a PHD in Psychology. He did not make just one choice to better his life.
I did not make one choice to participate on the World Race.
Every one of us makes choices in every moment, of every day. We can use our free will to invest in a deeper existence of Love, or some good old worldly satisfaction. Every investment we make influences the course of our lives, and the river will flow the way that we direct it.
God’s love is unchanging, regardless of the decisions I make, but I must make decisions. I cannot sit back and wait for God to take care of everything.
What are you investing in?
