I have written elsewhere that the Christian life entails the most adventurous pursuit a human can embark on, for it touches every fiber of our humanity. It encompasses our body and mind, as well as our soul and spirit; or to put it differently, it embraces our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual make-up.
John the Baptist
In what follows, I will consider an aspect of our humanity that can cause us to collide with what God intends to do.
Let me introduce the consideration with the following verses:
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.” (Matt. 3:13–15)
Here we have John the Baptist trying to prevent Jesus from fulfilling a divine and righteous purpose. This should send us a clear message: If this sort of preventing happened to John the Baptist, that is, to the one filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb, it seems reasonable to say it can happen to us as well.
So why was John trying to prevent Jesus? He was trying to prevent Him because what Jesus was about to do didn’t make any sense for John: “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” I am not saying Jesus was about to do something irrational. I am only pointing out that John’s rationality had a hard time to reach the height of Jesus’ presupposed course of action. As strange as it may seem, John’s modesty was here an encumbrance.
Jesus’ answer
But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.” (Matt. 3:15)
It is obvious here that Jesus could not have proceeded with His course of action if John would not have allowed Him to do so. “Permit it to be so now”, here Jesus is asking John’s permission to unfold a righteous and meaningful intention, and happily John allowed Him. That’s the way the narrative goes. But what if John would not have allowed Jesus to actualize His course of action, i.e., what if John would have refused to baptize Jesus. Obviously, Jesus could not have forced it out of him.
What I am saying is that this little story highlights the value and responsibility of human life in relation to the Christian Life; and this duality bears on you and me because we, as John, can be tempted to prevent God from a meaningful course of action, and this, for one reason or another. The fact is, God is not playing a game of chess. His eternal purpose amounts to an interlacement of divinity and humanity, and this is where our interference in the divine plan becomes serious, not so much for God, for His eternal purpose will proceed forward one way or another, but for us individuals. Happily, John was wise enough to yield to the higher Mind, but are we? That’s the question I want to bring up-front.
The need of collaborators
In the narrative under consideration Jesus had to have a collaborator, and the collaborator had to be, in this specific context, John the Baptist. But what about you and me? Could we possibly find ourselves in the shoes of John the Baptist one of these days? Or perhaps we have been there already. If so, did we prevent God or did we allow Him? Did we tell Him: “Yes! You can continue with the course of action You are about to undertake although it might affect me negatively, at least for a time.” I think the question is more meaningful than what we may think at first glance, the same with the answer, for we are talking about something that bears on our spiritual growth and ministry.
That we like it or not, there are things God will not do without our consent or permission. To this statement one might answer: “If I don’t allow God there is no problem, He will find somebody else.” But that is precisely where the pitfall lays. Such an answer becomes very exposing. It discloses a state of mediocrity, a sort of lukewarmness that will undermine our spiritual progress.
An important correlation
I know many people long for a place of responsibility in their church, or for a ministry, or the like. But that is exactly what we are talking about here. How can God give responsibilities to someone who refuses to cooperate with Him when his understanding doesn’t reach?
This question brings us to another consideration, for the possibility exists that men—not God—will give a person the object of his desire, i.e., responsibilities, or a ministry, or the like. When this happens we have, potentially at least, a real fiasco on our hands, and the consequences of the disaster will be, most surely, quite prejudicial in the long term.
One thing is certain, to give God permission to do what He wants to do in or with our life, i.e., in the realm of service and collaboration, can be quite demanding at times, and Jesus never hided it from us. That’s why the conditions of discipleship are what they are. But the beautiful thing in all this is that the person who yields to the divine plan will experience an increase of divine grace. There is no doubt about it. That is why I have said earlier that this little article has to do with spiritual progress.
A last observation
Before closing, I would like to point out that we are not talking about obedience here, but rather about collaboration. If I ask you permission to do something you cannot possibly disobey me, for disobedience has to do with commands, not with permissions. This idea is beautifully epitomized in the epistle to Philemon:
But without your consent I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary.” (Philemon 14)
Here Paul was awaiting Philemon’s consent, i.e., he was asking Philemon to collaborate with him. Actually this little post could have been entitled: “The importance of collaboration”, and surely, the thought of collaborating with God is as exciting as challenging.
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