I’m beginning to see everything in opposites. For every proposition, there’s an equally convincing opposition. One was in the previous post, affectionate reverence: the stark contrast of responses one can portray when relating to God; each type of response is correct, if one seeks to walk closely with God.
One other thing that came to my mind was the idea of acting in faith and waiting in faith. Many a time, we wonder what should we do if we want to do things God’s way. Here are some questions that were distilled from my experience in ministry. Do i seek to do something for God, like come up with an encouragement email, or do i wait and see what he is doing, so that i can join him and move in his power? Do i plan to reach out to the people around me in love, or do i wait for opportunities in conversations to talk about God’s love? Do i choose to lead worship without having heard from God to do so?
The first perspective supports the idea that one is proactive in doing God’s work. One would act on what one feels needs to be done. Often, we tend to focus on the act of doing and not on partnering with Christ in what we do for him, failing to acknowledging that it is through him that we accomplish anything. The second perspective puts one’s relationship with God and hearing from God first. One would react to things brought up in conversations, one would react to any need that one comes across. One would tend to focus on God and what he wants, from there, when one receives a (clear?) call, one would then obey and act accordingly, usually not doing much in the meantime.
Just to add a simple example to crystallise the two arguments. This concerns major life decisions, namely scholarships. One could just “follow one’s heart” and choose after making an informed decision. One can be praying simultaneously for wisdom to make the right decision. This can be said to be activity, as one believes that as one has asked for wisdom to act, one would be acting in the right way. Conversely, one can keep praying for a direction on where one should be heading. In the meantime, one would be waiting patiently or not doing anything specific that defines that a decision has been made (ie, applying for many scholarships just to play safe). This can be said to be passivity, as one waits to hear from God what the right choice should be (should one apply for scholarship or trust in God’s provision through other means?). All that has been said, i think that we should be clear that getting a scholarship does not mean that one does not trust in God’s provision, as a scholarship might just be the way God is intending to provide. Also, i think that we should be clear that praying for success does not mean that we just want to have things our way. (This is highly debatable, as one’s heart condition while engaging in these activities is the crucial factor.)
So which is right? To clarify the first perspective of activity, if we are in Christ, God initiates things in us. He was first to seek us and knows all that we are going to do. To clarify the second perspective of passivity, if we are in Christ, waiting may not be wasting time or inactivity. Ultimately, his ways are higher than our ways. In this world of opposites, i personally feel that there is no right or wrong thing to do (dont misunderstand me on this…read on). But that does not mean that one can never go wrong; there isnt a wrong choice in terms of what to do, but rather, a wrong path is chosen because of a poor attitude. When one goes to the extremes of activity or passivity and focuses on how one should be acting, one has missed the point that one created for simple relationship with Christ. Personally, i feel that if we want to do things God’s way, it would be best to focus on God. Our everyday lives are made up of countless decisions anyways. This may easily lean toward the side of passivity, but i believe that when we know God and walk closely with him, it matters not what we do or do not.
Hmmm.
