Free Will

We have lived in our apartment for about a month now, and I would say the task I look forward to the least is walking the dogs.  I’m used to being able to come home and let them run in the backyard, but now we have to go for walks….many times a day.

We have one of those cool retractable leashes….one they can get about 20 feet out on before they stop and have to let me catch up to reel it back in.  They started out extremely well with it, but as of recently they hit the end and just pull harder.  Today our bulldog hit the end, kept pulling, and broke it.  So we had to go back to the old boring, short leash.

It was in that moment when the leash pulled out of the handle that I had this thought…..we are a lot like those dogs on their leash.  God is awesome.  He created us with free will.  He created us to be able to make our own choices….he gave us a leash to run free….but like the dogs….we get comfortable with the distance.  We skip one Sunday of church….move out a few more feet.  We don’t read our Bible….run a few more feet further away.  We don’t pray….still further we go.  And before we realize it, we turn around and God isn’t there anymore.

God never leaves us….but sometimes we may feel like he isn’t there.  Paul speaks on free will when he writes to the church in Galatia.  “For you were called to freedom brethren;  only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another (Galatians 5:13.)”  God gives us the opportunities to be close to Him.  He wants us to be near, but He is never going to force Himself upon you.  Joshua also gives a strong statement on whom you decide to serve.  “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve:  whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living;  but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15.)”

Sometimes that freedom may feel good.  Not worrying about anything but ourselves.  But that’s not the way we are supposed to live.  And the good news is that when you get too far away….when the leash breaks and you are out there alone, all you have to do is turn around and go back.  Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened (Matthew 7:7-8.)”

And no sooner had I come back inside to get the short leash did that statement hit home. Now our bulldog wouldn’t go more than a few feet at a time.  She would stop, turn around, and make sure I was still there.  At some points she wouldn’t leave my side.  She would wrap herself around my legs.  Now, I realize she was just scared…..but isn’t that what we do when we get scared.  We turn around and look for help.  And Jesus is the place we should turn to in these situations.  “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9.)”

So when we start to feel like we are getting too far away….too far out there and we are starting to feel alone….just stop.  Turn around and follow the leash back.  The farther away we get, the harder it may be to return….but if you just keep reeling that leash up, you will make it back.  And Jesus will be standing there with open arms.

So I pray that we don’t get too far away.  That we know when that leash is coming to an end.  That we don’t pull too hard.  And that if we happen to find ourselves in those situations that we know where to turn.