American Individualism

We have a little joke game going on in our office these days. It revolves around the fact that sometimes I will say “if God wills.”

Saying this turns out to be very strange to most North Americans and sometimes elicits funny looks and nervous laughs.

I understand.

Our rugged American individualism trumps our submission to God. As a culture do not let anybody tell us how to run our lives from the "outside."

As a missionary in Latin America for 18 years it was normal to say “si Dios quiere” (if God wills) in our everyday conversations and so, this became a normal part of my conversation too.

To me it is a beautiful thing. It represents my always submitting my will and my plans and recognizing that God's will is the Lord over all life – mine included. God is not "outside" me rather I am "inside" God. 

This programs me to anticipate the holy to invade my life, that not all the things that I think are important but what God thinks is important is to become more important than "me."

This is even Biblical!

Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." James 4:14-15

In our Christian walk we need to see ourselves as missionaries in whatever culture we find ourselves in – especially our own cultures and our own peoples!

We need to remember that we do not sit on the throne of our life having accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord. Everything that we do think and say is under the perusal of God himself. We need to humble ourselves and our egos, especially as North Americans, to His will and His ways.