More personal responsibility, less belief in signs

“A little child needs to be told what to do,” said the Chief Apostle, as he drew a comparison in the divine service on 30 August 2015. A mother might tell her child, “Listen, today it is cold outside. Put on your coat.” And when the weather starts to become warmer, the mother might say, “Now you are dressed too warmly. It’s time to take it off again.”

“But please, when I am an adult, I no longer need anyone to tell me, ‘Hey listen, it’s cold outside. Put on a coat!’ Now that I am old enough I know on my own, ‘Oh, it is cold, so I will have to dress more warmly,’ emphasized Chief Apostle Schneider. “God expects us to be mature children of God. God expects us to make our decisions on our own.”

Signs to show the way?

“There are people who want to do the will of God, but in order to do so they say, ‘Please give me a sign so that I may know what to do,’” explained the Chief Apostle before going on to recall the situation of a brother from his youth group: he had fallen in love with a young sister and wanted to know whether she was “the right one”. So it was that he asked God for a sign, and opened up the Bible—and of course he kept on doing so until he finally found a passage which allowed him to conclude, “Oh yes, she is the right one indeed.”

“That is immature,” said the Chief Apostle very clearly in the course of the divine service. “Let us not work so much with signs and Bible passages in order to make our decisions.” Nor is it really in the mind and spirit of God to ask the ministers, “Now please, you decide. Tell me what I should do.”

Do not abdicate your own responsibility

In the summary of his divine service, which Chief Apostle Schneider regularly sends to all the Apostles by way of a circular letter, he writes as follows, “When we act in such a manner, we abdicate responsibility for our decisions and try to shift it off to God.” An adult is quite capable of thinking and making independent decisions. “The Lord has the right to expect a certain level of maturity of us.”

He had already advocated for a healthy distance from such belief in signs during the Apostle Meeting on Pentecost in Lusaka in Zambia. “Today we no longer need miracles in order to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” Demanding miracles harbours the danger that we might be tempting God. This is because the expectation behind such a demand is often that God should act as we human beings desire.

“We can pray and ask for help, but we cannot prescribe to Him what He should do specifically,” said Chief Apostle Schneider at the Pentecost meeting. “We ask in the name of Jesus, in all humbleness and trust in God.”

Love for God as our guide

And nevertheless there is a guide that can help us arrive at the right decision. “Spiritual maturity consists of accepting the word of God and making it a component of our decision-making,” expressed the Chief Apostle in his circular to the Apostles.

“We are the ones who are to make the decision. However, in doing so we should think about the love of God and the patience of Jesus Christ. And then we will make the right decision,” said the Chief Apostle clearly during the divine service in Georgia. “Then we decide, ‘I want to love God because He loves me.’ Then we decide, ‘I want to serve God because I love Him.’ In many decisions of life, this is the right decision.”

A detailed report on the Chief Apostle's divine service in Tbilisi will follow over the next few days.

Photo: fotogestoeber - Fotolia