Autonomy vs God’s will
- Autonomy
- “to be self-determined and independent”
- God’s will
- “to seek and obey the will of God”
You have a choice in front of you, and you already know what you want. Then a second question arrives: is this what God wants? Sometimes the two answers match. When they don’t, you have to decide whose say is final, yours or the one you are trying to hear and follow.
On Even Over’s map these sit on opposite sides: one is about choosing for yourself what you do, the other about keeping the customs of your faith. The pull here is not about effort or comfort. It is about authority. Autonomy asks you to be the author of your choices and to own what follows. God’s will asks you to place your choices under something larger than you, and to obey even when you would pick differently.
Each guards something you may not want to lose. Autonomy keeps your own judgment in play. It lets you learn from your own mistakes. It also lets you push back when others claim to know what God wants for your life. God’s will keeps you humble. It reminds you that your wants are not the last word. It gives you a steady place to stand when your own judgment is tired, rushed or self-serving.
What makes this hard is that the line between the two can blur. Seeking God’s will still takes your own effort. You pray, read, listen and weigh. So you may wonder whether you are hearing a call or hearing your own hopes. Other voices add to the mix too. A parent, a friend or a faith leader may tell you what God asks of you. You can lean on Autonomy to sort their voice from God’s. Or you can lean on God’s will to question your own wishes. Both moves can be sincere.
If this choice turns out badly, which would you rather be able to say: that you chose it yourself, or that you did what you believed you were asked to do?
What choosing one over the other tends to mean
Autonomy over God’s will
If you put Autonomy above God’s will, you keep the final say over your choices, even ones your faith speaks to. You may still pray, listen and weigh what you sense God asking, but you decide, and you own the result. This gives you room to grow and to resist pressure from people who speak for God. The cost is that you may sometimes set aside a sense of being called, and you carry each choice yourself, without the rest that comes from handing it over.
God’s will over Autonomy
If you put God’s will above Autonomy, you let what you understand God to ask shape your choices, even when you would choose otherwise. This can give you steady footing, a check on your own wants, and a sense that your life answers to more than you. The cost is that you may give up paths you wanted. You may also face times when you are unsure whether you are hearing God or the people around you.
Where they collide
A job that asks for your rest day
You get an offer for work you have wanted for a long time. The schedule asks you to work on the day your faith keeps for rest and worship. You could take it and shape your practice around it, or turn it down. Your own plans point one way, and what you sense God asking may point the other.
Planning a family ceremony
Your family wants a wedding, naming or funeral done the way your faith has always done it. You have ideas of your own about how it should look and what it should say. You can follow the form you believe God asks for, or shape the day by your own choices and explain why.
A call to serve in your community
Your faith community asks you to lead a group or take on a role for the next season. You had other plans for that time, ones you chose with care. Part of you wonders if this request is a call you should answer. Part of you wants to keep the plans that are yours.
An example even-over principle
Autonomy even over God’s will. When others tell me what God wants for my life, I will weigh what they say, pray on it myself, and then make a choice I can own. I accept that I may sometimes miss guidance I needed.
One example of the format, not advice. In Even Over you write your own, for the pairs your choices show.