“Whosoever Will . . .” Our Own and the Others’ Free Will

“Whosoever Will . . .” Our Own and the Others’ Free Will

Everyone has a free will, and he has to give account for how he has used it. The more it is used for God’s pleasure, the better. The result of our life and its reward will be mathematically precise accordingly. God does not commit violence against our free will; therefore we shall not commit violence against the free will of others. On the contrary, He urges us to do good. We ought to do the same to each other.

When I think about serving God as a fellow worker on other peoples’ salvation and sanctification, I also have my free will in this area. I can choose where I want to go, to whom I want to speak, whom I want to invite to my house, with whom I want to go on a tour, with whom I want to live in the same place, with whom I want to travel together, to whom I write, visit, give gifts, etc. I can also choose what I want to speak or write about, how I shall address the matter, how strong the expressions will be that I am going to use, how often I will mention the same thing—whether directly or indirectly—whether I will mention it several times, and so on.

We have various words and laws for our guidance in this respect. The better we follow them, the better it is for us and for others. Examples: “Preach the gospel to the poor.” Luke 4:18. “Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.” Jer. 4:3. “Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.” Prov. 23:9. “Nor cast your pearls before swine . . . .” Matt. 7:6. “For we are not writing any other things to you than what you read or understand.” 2 Cor. 1:13. “Especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Gal. 6:10. “Let them first learn to show piety at home . . . .” 1 Tim. 5:4. “Commit these [things] to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” 2 Tim. 2:2. “Do not answer a fool according to his folly . . . .” Prov. 26:4. “Answer a fool according to his folly . . . .” Prov. 26:5. “But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes . . . .” 2 Tim. 2:23. “Therefore I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things . . . .” 2 Pet. 1:12.

However, if I am at liberty to choose whom to talk to and what I want to say, then the person I am addressing must likewise be at liberty to choose how much or how little he wants to follow my words. This is a very difficult point—namely, when a strong person wants to take care of a weaker person.

It is difficult for the stronger person, who is convinced of the goodness of his counsel, to be suitably considerate of the other person’s free will and conscience. He is tempted to pressure him so that the soul feels obliged to heed his counsel against his own free will and against his own understanding. This is in bad taste and imperfect. If there is much of that sort of thing, you can ruin a soul because he can become so unhappy under such treatment that he loses courage.

By proceeding in this manner, you obtain the very opposite of the desired goal. Being zealous to help, you cause harm instead; being zealous to break down the flesh, you break the person’s spirit instead. One should rather hold back and suffer quietly.

If you think it is sad that the other person understands so little about how to use his free will in the best way, you are not improving the situation by using your own free will incorrectly.

All of us should pay close attention to and carefully differentiate between the individual’s receptivity, his hunger and thirst, his conscience, his free will, as well as the mutual trust relationship.

You cannot accomplish anything where there is no trust, and you cannot force trust into being. Attempting to do that will work only in the opposite direction.

When you think you should break down a person’s flesh for the benefit of the spirit, you ought to remember that this must occur in agreement with the desire of the person concerned. Otherwise you would become his master instead of his servant, and he would become enslaved to man instead of being a free and blessed individual.