The Human Will and Christian Dis

Since the beginning of my Christian experience, I have always wondered “why did Christ have to die?” It was years before I received an answer that was more than an ecclesiastical cliché: In the Incarnation God has not only redeemed us but has also united Himself to the totality of the human experience [sin excepted, since sin is not normal human behavior]. This uniting had to include death, which is the culmination of the human experience in this world. Because Christ is God Incarnate and because He truly died, death is no longer an experience which separates us from God, which we perceive God cannot understand, or which we must experience alone; God has been there, literally.

This, however, raises a second question: accepting the belief that God Incarnate experienced death, why did He have to die so violently? Why could He not have died in His sleep, or unexpectedly? The answer is as profound as the first: The death He chose required the extreme exercise of His will in steering through it. God Incarnate, though not needing to do so, nonetheless willed, through the most difficult circumstances, to see to its completion His death on our behalf.

Why is this important? There are two parts of Jesus work: God’s redemptive action, the salvation of humanity including uniting it to Himself, and His example for us, i.e., His exercise of the will in willing to fulfill the divine plan in spite of the most horrendous and difficult circumstances. The latter is important because we are expected to emulate this exercise of the will in our own Christian discipleship [Philippians 2:5-7, Matthew 16:24, 10:38], and, according to St. James, we don’t really believe unless we strive to do so [James 2:14-26].

For those of us who are Christians the belief in God’s redemptive action poses little problem. We believe it and that settles it, as the saying goes. That, however, is the easy part. It is the second part, the example of the exercise of the will which becomes problematic for us. Perhaps this is because the exercise of the will is an extremely difficult practice and we American Christians tend toward the sin of sloth; we don’t seem to like that which is difficult.

What is the exercise of the will? It is choosing to learn, understand and perform what God expects of us, regardless of outcome, setbacks or our repeated failures. It is manifested primarily in obedience to Divine commands and expectations, willingness to perform faithfully the fundamentals, such as prayer, tithing, corporate worship, repentance, almsgiving and study of the faith. Exercise of the will involves learning to trust in God’s goodness, to allow for a “retooling” of our thinking to conform with the revealed divine will, and removing from our lives that which separates us from Him, such as our sins and their causes. In other words, exercise of the will is active cooperation with God’s grace.

There are three levels of the exercise of the will. The first is the most obvious, that which might be called “outward.” This involves our actions and our public appearance. Our actions and behavior must be conformed to the moral standards laid out for us in the Gospels and. we are expected to change any behavior which is contrary to that stated by Christ and the Apostles [Ephesians 4:17-32]. There ARE behavioral expectations in the Christian life and we must will to exercise them.

A second level of the exercise of the will is that which might be called “private.” This includes what we do at home, in the spaces of our personal privacy. It means learning to “practice what we preach,” willing to learn to control our thoughts and actions when we are most relaxed. Practicing the faith at this level is much more difficult, since we tend to let down our spiritual vigilance when we are in the privacy of our homes and around those who accept us unconditionally. Frequently, this is where our Christian witness fails us, and our families see the side of us that the world does not see. This marks the failure of the will in the private setting. Nevertheless, the occasions for the private exercise of the will are excellent opportunities for us to grow in faith as we will to learn self-control and obedience even at home.

A third exercise of the will is the “inner.” This means working on the intentions of our hearts, striving to bring our desires in conformity with the revealed will of God through Christ. As Jesus said, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. [Matthew 12:34].” All our sins are the result of deep rooted attitudes of rejection of God. Even though we may be able to change our outward behavior, we still have to remove the roots of disobedience which are found in the depths of our hearts. It takes great will power even to look within, let alone correct what is there. To attempt to do so marks the inner exercise of the will.

The exercise of the will is the essence of Christian discipleship. God has not only become for us the example of what He expects of us, he has made it possible [Philippians 4:13] for us to comply, so we can’t excuse ourselves from our responsibilities. It is our duty to learn our parts, our duty to strive to master our wills. To do this is to follow Jesus’ example, to enter into true Christian discipleship and to become Christ like.