Don’t Want To

Because you won’t, or because you do not want to. Doesn’t sound like a lot of difference there really, does it, they both indicate rebellion against something, they both indicate at least two options, but one on principle, character, and integrity, while the other “do not want to” offers in itself the possibility of your mind on the subject, or the matter at hand, being modified by you, for any number of various reasons.

For the people in the won’t, the will not category, consequences hold no meaning, no value, they will lose all they have, all they are ever going to have, even their lives, for whatever their belief structure is, for that is what both of these responses indicate, what we believe in, and to what extent. If your supervisor at your place pf employment tells you to do something, “I won’t” will lead you to the front door of that building for the last time, “I don’t want to” means that you have no desire to perform the task, but you are going to, because you don’t want to lose your job.

I would ask you to look at the account of what we generally call the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32. The father did not, as far as we are told, attempt to talk his son out of leaving, but one must wonder about that young man’s convictions, if the father had said, “No, no money, no inheritance, if you’re that set on going out into the world, then the clothes on your back are what you are going to go in.” I would guess his response would have been, “I don’t want to.” Character and integrity are not modified by circumstances, they either are or are not, it does not matter the wealth or poverty, the consequences are of no concern, the situation at hand does not deter the man of integrity.

Daniel’s three friends understood this during the months that the obelisk was being built by Nebuchadnezzar, and they followed through, Jesus understood it as He made His way to the place of a skull, do you understand it, and can you find examples of it in your life?

The difficulty lies in the continuation of that integrity, and one must determine if it can be blamed on our sinful nature, or that part of us that says, “I don’t want to.” I would ask you to contemplate this today, the people that you meet in your life, do they know that you are a Christian, do they know that you are not going to be their best friend, that you have been separated from the world. Have they heard you speaking to them directly about the Savior and their need for Him, have they heard you say to their face that they are living in sin, and that sin is what is keeping them from not only knowing Christ as Lord, but will keep them separated from His love for all eternity?

Now, you may say one of two things to yourself, I do not want to, or I will not. Sometimes it takes a little while to get to the point, doesn’t it, sometimes it takes a few extra words to make it extremely personal, because now you have found out about yourself, if you have character and integrity in the Lord’s eyes.

 I will leave you in this short letter with an irregularity that I have noticed in the generalized Christian community over the last few decades, have you noticed that about the only time that Christians will say anymore that someone is living in sin is when two people live in the same house and they are not married? I hope that the character and integrity that you see in your own life is corresponding directly to how the Lord sees it.