God Didn’t Make You a Robot (For a Reason)

God Didn't Make You a Robot (For a Reason)

Daniel Courington

Those who know me best know that I have an infatuation for gadgets. I like neat and new technology. If I gave in to every technology temptation I have, I would have no money and a house full of technology. Luckily, I do use restraint (sometimes). One of my latest gadget buys was a Roomba. A vacuum that doesn't require a human? I'm in! I put my Roomba in the middle of the room, I press a button, and I go about my day. Well, I go about my day now, but that wasn't always the case. When I first got my Roomba, I would sit and just watch it. I could have vacuumed the floor three times by the time I quit watching it, but it amused me. How could this little thing be so smart? It knows exactly how to fulfill its task. It doesn't complain. It doesn't talk back. It doesn't procrastinate. It just does its job.

So I ask this: Why didn't God make me and you Roombas? Why didn't he put me in the middle of this earth, press a button, and have me do whatever it is that he would want me to do? Why did he give me choice? Why did he think enough of me to give me an opinion? Why is he willing to put up with all of my mistakes and still forgive me over and over?

It is unquestionable that, like Adam (Genesis 2:15), Paul (Romans 1:1), and Jesus (John 18:37), Christians have a certain purpose. In the Great Commission, Christ states that this purpose is twofold- And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
(Mat 28:18-20). Christ desires us to teach the lost and to observe His commandments. If God would have wanted a robotic people, don't you think He would have made it? If God wanted a people who were merely born into an inheritance without any faith or action, don't you believe he would have made the Old Law permanent? God designed the system and could have done whatever he pleased but what he decided is that he wanted to create a people who could make choices, just like he could and that could have thoughts, just like him.

God is Love (1 John 4:8) and as a result, he wanted people with the capability to Love (1 John 4:7). Love, in its very nature does not seek its own way (1 Corinthians 13:5). Love requires desire. Desire requires choice. In 2^nd Corinthians 9:7, it is said that God loves a cheerful giver. But immediately preceding this, it tells what one must do to be a cheerful giver. It states that "Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion". Paul, in his letter to Philemon said "Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you--I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus-- I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. (Phm 1:8-10)"

This is the very nature of what God wants from us and the reason he did not make us a robot. He wants a people with desire. Not a desire like a robot. A desire to do his will because we love him, not because of compulsion. God has a purpose for us as Christians and I believe he frames it in the same way that Paul framed his message to Philemon: "I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord. (Phm 1:13-14)"

We are never told what Philemon's response to Paul's request was. Whether or not we will give consent to God's will for our lives, like Philemon, is our choice and our choice alone.

May God be with us daily as we seek to make the right choices in following him!