It’s not hard to see that our world is changing before our eyes and realize we’re not in Kansas anymore. The goal is to find out how we got here in the first place and how do we get “back home.” So, two weeks ago, we started this journey following the theme of the Wizard of Oz. We were told to follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald city where we will find the wizard who can lead us home. Last week we met the wizard and found out he was a hoax. We learned that the wizard holds everyone captive, deceiving us to believe we can do and have whatever we want. Who is the wizard in our story? Not Satan. Although he is the accuser, adversary and enemy of our souls, the real wizard hiding behind the curtain is ourselves. Think about this for a moment…. We don’t need Satan to make us turn from God. We don’t need Satan to instill jealousy, lust, greed, anger, hate, bitterness, laziness and so forth, in us. We are absolutely capable of doing all of that on our own. Sometimes we give Satan too much credit and never take ownership of our own sinful behavior.
So, YES, we are the wizards in this land of Oz we live in and “self” holds us captive. It lies and deceives us to make us do what we don’t want to do (remember last week’s snippet?). However, the absolute truth behind our choices and actions is that we only do what we want to do. Yes, you heard correctly. Read this slowly and understand this principle… That sin that you so desperately don’t like doing… YOU WANT TO DO IT! That’s why you do it! We ONLY DO what we want to do. Understanding the doctrine of freewill is the key to understanding sin, people and the world we live in.
Freewill is a powerful thing. It lets us call the shots. That’s good but that’s also horrendous. Seven billion people fallen and sinful; thinking, lusting and calling the shots to do whatever they feel like doing is an extremely dangerous thing. But God created us with freewill, He sees the problems and yet allows it. We must understand that freewill is always going to choose what seems best at the time. Even if it means breaking the law or doing what we know is wrong. You may never think of stealing but in a life or death situation you might. That’s your freewill working in you. Or, you might like to sleep in every day, but weighing the circumstances, you choose to get up and go to work. The thought of keeping your job to make money will outweigh the desire to sleep in. So even though you would like to sleep in there’s a greater desire making you get up, so you choose to do the better thing according to your thought process at the time. Or you could just choose to sleep in a take your chances of losing your job. Again, you’re choosing to do what seems best AT THE TIME. That’s what freewill is all about. Other times we may be coerced into making a decision that we would not normally do… You would never think of freely giving your money to a robber but given the choice to either hand over your wallet or be shot you freely give the person your wallet. Or, you may choose to take your chances and fight the robber. Again, you are choosing to do what seems best at the time. You make thousands of choices instantly and without realizing it every day. And every choice is based off of what you feel is the best choice in that situation. Granted, Jesus in your life helps you to make better choices and you do it in love and reverence to Him and not by coercion. We freely want to follow and obey Him. But remember, self is always hiding behind the curtain and we must always be on guard knowing that self will always manipulate situations to take the easiest path or the path with the most glamour. That’s what self does. And that’s why we are the “Wizards of Oz.”
Next week we'll look into the three most common factors to making decisions. Everyone uses these. Its simnply how the mind works
So, YES, we are the wizards in this land of Oz we live in and “self” holds us captive. It lies and deceives us to make us do what we don’t want to do (remember last week’s snippet?). However, the absolute truth behind our choices and actions is that we only do what we want to do. Yes, you heard correctly. Read this slowly and understand this principle… That sin that you so desperately don’t like doing… YOU WANT TO DO IT! That’s why you do it! We ONLY DO what we want to do. Understanding the doctrine of freewill is the key to understanding sin, people and the world we live in.
Freewill is a powerful thing. It lets us call the shots. That’s good but that’s also horrendous. Seven billion people fallen and sinful; thinking, lusting and calling the shots to do whatever they feel like doing is an extremely dangerous thing. But God created us with freewill, He sees the problems and yet allows it. We must understand that freewill is always going to choose what seems best at the time. Even if it means breaking the law or doing what we know is wrong. You may never think of stealing but in a life or death situation you might. That’s your freewill working in you. Or, you might like to sleep in every day, but weighing the circumstances, you choose to get up and go to work. The thought of keeping your job to make money will outweigh the desire to sleep in. So even though you would like to sleep in there’s a greater desire making you get up, so you choose to do the better thing according to your thought process at the time. Or you could just choose to sleep in a take your chances of losing your job. Again, you’re choosing to do what seems best AT THE TIME. That’s what freewill is all about. Other times we may be coerced into making a decision that we would not normally do… You would never think of freely giving your money to a robber but given the choice to either hand over your wallet or be shot you freely give the person your wallet. Or, you may choose to take your chances and fight the robber. Again, you are choosing to do what seems best at the time. You make thousands of choices instantly and without realizing it every day. And every choice is based off of what you feel is the best choice in that situation. Granted, Jesus in your life helps you to make better choices and you do it in love and reverence to Him and not by coercion. We freely want to follow and obey Him. But remember, self is always hiding behind the curtain and we must always be on guard knowing that self will always manipulate situations to take the easiest path or the path with the most glamour. That’s what self does. And that’s why we are the “Wizards of Oz.”
Next week we'll look into the three most common factors to making decisions. Everyone uses these. Its simnply how the mind works
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