Discover Free Will and Purpose: Kill off the Mystical Mind

 

The Mystical Mindset vs God's Word

The most useful thing I’ve discovered is that our free will provides us with opportunities to choose our path without fear of ignoring God’s will.

 It may be a little much to say I’ve “discovered” it, as if I’m working in a lab mixing chemicals and hoping for the next penicillin. But a teacher of the Word brought it to my attention recently. I should explain a little more. A good friend from church told me to sign up for this class that helps Christian men find their purpose. The class is led by a teacher who developed the curriculum. It is based on scripture but it also assumes certain things about the people in the group.

Instruction on Purpose

 First, they understand (at least marginally) the Bible and its application to our lives.

Second, they must have some interest in discovering their purpose. He breaks down words like “purpose” and “freedom” into manageable chunks. We walk through simple exercises designed to explore what we believe about ourselves and God. A good part of the class is looking at our own lives to figure out where the kinks are. The second part, I imagine, is untangling the kinks so that purpose can flow unobstructed through our lives. I say kinks as in a garden hose. The analogy is a little forced but I’m working on it.

The Bible tells us we were sinners before Jesus made a way for us to get to the Father, or more accurately for the Father to get to us. Jesus reconnected that link between humans and God that was broken in the Garden of Eden. The problems we walk around with are the result of bad thinking. Here I’m talking about Christians. Even when we understand what Christ did for us we struggle to live completely in His will, choosing to make decisions based on our faulty ideas lodged in our brain like a virus.

Decisions for Life

One type of thinking, I’ll call it mystical, is the idea that We can’t make big choices in life without a sign from heaven. What constitutes big choices? Let’s say the usual types of life affirming stuff like career, relationships and school. We could lump in moves and big spending financial stuff like whether or not to buy an additional car. Most people will have a slightly different list. The point is to separate daily decisions we make like which groceries to buy to which sports can our kids play at school.

I’m calling the mindset “mystical” because as a Christian I want to align my will with the Holy Spirit and follow His call. But waiting for a sign from heaven can become a hindrance if we are unwilling to make decisions without them. Signs are a crutch for those not confident in their faith. I can’t go there because God hasn’t told me I should. I won’t sign up for that because I haven’t heard from Him yet. I’m not sure I should take that job, buy that house or sell my boat.

 Sometimes God may choose to give us a dream as a warning, or close a door we would’ve walked through. But we shouldn’t let the lack of a sign paralyze us to inaction. The victory that Jesus secured through the cross and the resurrection, gave us the ability to walk confidently in the world and make bold decisions.

The Wrong Message

I like how the apostle Peter says it “…His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.” (2 Peter 1:2) That should give us a sense that we are infused with a holy confidence we can rest in. The mystical mindset is a problem for a lot of charismatic Christians, raised with a sense of divine appointment around every corner.

How do I know it’s a problem? Because it’s a problem for me. I can extend that thinking outward and rightly assume it affects a lot of us. I think it comes from hearing miraculous testimony from pastors and visiting speakers at church. A steady diet of healing stories can make one believe that only daily miraculous encounters constitute genuine Christian living. This is the fault of the hearer and not the speaker. The speaker reminds us that God’s power is alive and responding to His Word. We need the confirmation. We need the testimony. Faith comes through the hearing of the Word.

Additionally, I’ve heard a handful of divine appointment testimonies that put the man or woman of God in the right place at the right time. 

Divine Appointments

One very moving story I heard was about a husband and wife who filled a cooler with Coca-Cola and handed them out to thirsty people at Walmart. To anyone who listened they talked about Jesus and shared the gospel. The Coke was just a way to approach strangers with the good news. A woman was so moved by the gesture that she invited her husband to come to Walmart and hear the nice folks handing out Coca-Cola. He came and heard about Christ. He agreed to come to their church and got baptized that night. He surrendered his life to Jesus and the rest of his family followed his lead. This all happened in a day. Later that evening he collapsed of a heart attack and passed away.

Amazing right?

If not for those people handing out drinks would that man hear the gospel? The mystical mindset takes a story like that and assumes God gave specific instructions in a dream or a vision to the couple to hand out Coke. Or maybe they think God used an audible voice. I can almost see the couple sitting there watching the news and a booming voice interrupts them and starts giving directions. We know the Holy Spirit puts burdens on our hearts for people. He certainly can speak to our hearts about specific places and times and events.

But mostly He works through what we already have. The most amazing part of the story was not the logistical issues of handing out Coca-Cola, it was God’s heart for that lost soul. He looked around to find an opportunity for this man to hear about His Son because the man’s time was short. That’s the real miracle. That’s the beauty of the Father’s relentless pursuit for His Sons and Daughters. The mistake we make (unintentionally) is focusing on our part and waiting for the mystical reveal, the voice or the dream or the vision.

Fear of False Moves

The other side of the mystical mind is a fear of making the wrong move. Whereas the testimony of God’s divine timing encourages us, the anti-testimony (my phrase) about the wrong decision creates fear from the opposite direction. I know of pastors who’ve taken positions in churches across the country only to return less than a year later. They’re distraught and confused about where they messed up. 

Did they mess up? Did they leave a job unfinished, what it too daunting? Were they even supposed to be there? It’s never an easy question to answer because every situation is different. The mystical mind fears a false move because it seems like failure or worse. We’ve made a critical error in hearing from God and now we must suffer from our self-inflicted punishment.   

Our mindset led us to believe that struggle can’t be right. If God’s path is true than it must be easy. The testimonies of the saints tell us so. Get a sign, do a deed, get a testimony. Repeat as needed. But this was never true. We heard the wrong message. We focused on the sizzle and not the steak. Our understanding of God’s will for us amounts to signs and wonders with fortune cookie wisdom. Our mystical mindset keeps us kinked up (Sticking with the garden hose analogy) unable to let our purpose flow freely.

Conclusion

God gave us free will as a gift. We need to take the right messages from testimonies. In every one we should see the heart of the Father toward the lost and move toward that vision. I’m convinced that God uses us where we are and where we might be. And yes, healing, deliverance and divine appointments will become more frequently in our lives when we start moving.