Many respected theologians believe that God preordains everything in our lives. I’m not one of them. Well, I’m not a respected theologian either.
I think that free will is essential to true love. I think people have to be able to choose the wrong things in order for it to mean something that they choose the right things. I think God pretty much lets us do whatever we want. I think sometimes people choose to do bad things that hurt other people. I think God lets them, even when it means that bad things happen to good people. I don’t think God plays favorites.
But more than anything else, more than any other theological idea, I believe in redemption. I think that God can redeem anything. Yep, anything. I don’t think any situation is too bad for God to bring something shockingly beautiful and amazing out of it.
I think that God is really into opportunity.
You know that story in the book of Matthew, where Jesus is teaching and this woman comes up and begs him for help and he ignores her? The one in 15:21-28.
Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Gentile woman who lived there came to him, pleading, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely.” But Jesus gave her no reply, not even a word. Then his disciples urged him to send her away. “Tell her to go away,” they said. “She is bothering us with all her begging.”
Then Jesus said to the woman, “I was sent only to help God’s lost sheep—the people of Israel.” But she came and worshiped him, pleading again, “Lord, help me!”
Jesus responded, “It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.” She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their masters’ table.”
“Dear woman,” Jesus said to her, “your faith is great. Your request is granted.” And her daughter was instantly healed.
I always wondered why Jesus was initially so cold and uncaring toward her. Then I heard someone say that he wasn’t, really. They said that Jesus saw right into her heart and knew her faith, and so he opened the door for her to demonstrate it. They say that he said “it isn’t right to throw food to the dogs” so that she had the opportunity to say “even dogs eat the scraps” and thus demonstrate her faith to the world. They say this story illustrates Jesus’ commitment to opportunity.
It makes me wonder, is the crummy stuff in my life not just the result of other’s poor choices (and often, my own) but something more? Is it an opportunity for me to respond with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control?
How often do we flip our circumstances upside down and look at them from this perspective? That whatever’s going on in our life, especially the unpleasant stuff, is simply an opportunity. We can either demonstrate our faith to the world, or not.
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