Wills, Won'ts, Can'ts

April 17

There are three kinds of people in the world, the wills, the won'ts and the can'ts.
Eclectic Magazine

Every day we must determine what kind of people we will be. All people will face challenges today. We know that because we know that the "rain falls on the just and on the unjust, just as the sun shines on the just and on the unjust," Matthew 5:45. The Word tells us that God is equitable in both trails and blessings.

Our choice is merely in how we will face them. Will we look upon the bad things with a determinate resolve that though they challenge us, we will not be defeated by them? Will we look upon the blessings with profound appreciation yet without allowing them to lull us into a false sense of freedom from challenge?

It seems that therein lies our success. When we confront the reality of life and assess it accurately, we know that there are challenges and opportunities before us. We dig in our heels so the forces that come against our purposes won't be able to shove us back from our goals yet we embrace our advantages loosely, knowing that if they hold us, we will be unable to maneuver into our most beneficial position for dealing with all of life's eventualities.

Our wisdom in discerning the circumstances before us is our great advantage, for without the insight that comes from appropriating the mind of Christ into the assemblage of facts that require our attention, we won't always know which are ultimately for our undoing or which are for our betterment. Things are not always as they first appear.

If we are among the 'wills,' we won’t be put off by our initial inability to recognize how to maneuver our circumstances to our advantage. We realize that until we are able to see them clearly, we cannot know how they will best play out. The willingness to scrutinize circumstances before acting is the strength of a 'will' over the 'won't' or the 'can't.'

He does not presume anything but allows everything that touches him to be revealed in the light of the one glorious truth which reveals all things to him—he submits his mind to Christ and is thereby enabled to discern and to evaluate all things from the Lord’s vantage point.
If they are detrimental in nature and undo the purposes of the Lord, they are to be discarded; if they are godly in nature and facilitate the purposes of the Lord, they are to be advanced. Recognizing the trash of life, discerning it from life's treasure is not always easy to do. The circumstances of life are often discretely veiled. The wills, therefore, weigh each potentiality before the Lord and His Word to know in his heart how it fits into God’s scheme—to know if it should fit into God’s scheme.

If something negates the purposes of the Lord for his life, the 'will' turns his back and walks away—even from the thing that appears to be a tantalizing solution to his immediate dilemma. If a thing truly facilitates God's purposes, the 'will' allows it to have His way in every area of his life, even if his logic denies him complete understanding. The 'wills' know the human mind is limited in its ability to discern how time will impact all matters with which it wrestles. The wills understand that if for no reason but this, the entirety of life's outcomes must be left in the loving hands of Jesus.