In my previous blog entry, I offered a possible scenario to explain why we live in the world we do. God’s desire to share in a love relationship with His creatures necessitates that those creatures have the free will to choose to love Him. Therefore, our world is one where evil and hate is just as possible as goodness and love. But what does this mean for our every day lives? Here is one example:
A few weeks ago, a Christian woman wrote to me concerning her husband’s salvation—as of yet, he has not accepted Jesus as his Savior and Lord. She had read a few passages of Scripture about how God answers prayer and she wondered why God had not answered her nearly 30-year prayer for her husband’s salvation. Specifically, the passages she mentioned were Matthew 21:22 which says, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer,” and John 15:7, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” These are both promises of Jesus—could it be that Jesus is refusing to answer her prayer? Or could it be that there is something else intervening—something, as strange as it sounds, of greater importance than answering her prayer?
Whenever we pray concerning someone else's behavior and/or salvation, we must always keep in mind that that person has their own free will, just like we do. When God created mankind "in His image," He gave us all the power to make our own choices. God wants us to truly love Him—but in order for that to be possible—in order for us to truly have a choice to love Him—there must be the real choice to reject Him. And unfortunately, this is exactly what some people choose to do.
What this means is that, while our prayers are important and powerful, God will not "override" another person’s free will in order to save him or her. That's just not the way God works. And when we think about it, it makes sense—if God "made" people love Him and choose Him, that's not truly a real choice, is it? So our prayers are important, but if they seem to be going unanswered, it's not God's "fault." He's not "not answering" our prayers.
In fact, understand that God wants our loved ones to come to salvation probably even more than we do! 2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." Again in 1 Timothy 2:3-4 the Bible says, "This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."
You see, God is working right along side of us do all He can to invite our loved ones into a saving knowledge of His Son, Jesus Christ. But God is not going to "force" anyone into it—they will each have to come to that decision themselves. That way, it'll be their free choice to love God and accept the Lordship of Jesus over their life.
How does this idea fit with the two promises of Jesus mentioned above? On the surface, not very easily! But actually, if we think about it, we can see how the free will choice that all people have "trumps" what Jesus is saying in these statements. It's as if Jesus is saying to us, "If you believe in the things I believe in, if you desire the things I desire, if you understand things the way I understand them—then your prayers will mirror my [Jesus'] heart." When we understand things more fully, our prayers will more closely match the heart of God.
Am I saying that we shouldn't pray for the salvation of our loved ones? Of course not. But I am encouraging us not to get disappointed in God when those prayers remain, at the present time, unanswered. We must believe with all our heart that God desires all people to be saved and is doing all He can (short of brute force) to bring about their salvation.
So if our prayers for salvation are contingent upon other’s free will, then how should we pray? Of course we should continue to pray directly for their salvation (see Romans 10:1). However, I would encourage everyone to consider “expanding” their prayers to include the following:
1) Pray for opportunities to share your faith in Jesus with your loved ones in ways that won't turn them off.
2) Pray that God would raise up other Christians in their lives to serve as a proper example of a Christian lifestyle.
3) Pray that God would bring about circumstances in the life of your loved ones that would challenge them to look outside of themselves for strength, courage, and answers. (Be prepared for this one!)
4) Pray that God's Holy Spirit would work upon your loved ones’ hearts to soften them toward simply coming to church. Here again, God won't "force" them to come, but I don't believe the Holy Spirit is beyond some "firm nudging."
There are probably many other creative ways to pray for the salvation of others that are more than a simple, "God, please save him" or “God, please save her.” Unfortunately, that particular prayer is one that God cannot directly answer. Why? Because it requires more than just God's will, it requires our loved one’s will as well. So we should think of ways to pray that only require God's will—like the things mentioned above. That way, we’ll know that God is answering our prayers because He's working just as hard as we are to encourage our loved ones toward salvation. And maybe we’ll start really seeing some answers—like a new co-worker who is a good Christian friend; or maybe an “out-of-nowhere” conversation about God you never thought you'd have. Those types of prayers being answered will be encouraging.
For all of you continuing in prayer for your lost loved ones, I join you in your prayers and I sincerely hope that they will one day surrender their lives to Jesus. Until that day comes, I hope and pray that you will never give up on them, or on God. But if, God forbid, that day never comes, I also hope and pray that you can rest at peace in the knowledge that you did and said and prayed everything you could do and say and pray. I hope that you can understand that, ultimately, the choice was up to your loved one—not a God who simply did not want to answer your prayers.
No comments:
Post a Comment