One of the greatest gifts from God is our human freedom. We can choose. We can even choose against God’s Will for us. This is a wonderful, terrible responsibility. This freedom we have is in no way absolute. We don’t have divine perspective to see all the options, and all the implications of those options, that present themselves throughout our lifetime. We are inhibited and blinded by fear and ego from within, and by expectations and other pressures on us from outside. We are free, but…
When we act as if we have absolute freedom to do as we have decided is best, we are no longer talking about freedom, but about license. We are not God. No human person (Jesus excepted) organization or ideology is God. It seems that millions of people today, acting out of their “freedom,” are doing so with no discernment. We are in the middle of a global pandemic, moving into a third year with no sign of stopping. For the vast majority of people, to refuse to be vaccinated when we desperately need to create mass immunity, cannot be equated with following God’s Will. How many more will die because of individuals asserting, as an absolute, their right to choose?
Our personal choices are never private. What we decide impacts the lives of others, whether we are aware of this or not. We have no right to deliberately choose actions that cause harm to our selves or to others. We are all interconnected and our choices need to take into account a greater good – the common good. Discernment invites us to consider consequences beyond our individual perceptions and perspective.
Discernment is there to guide us in a healthy use of this gift of limited freedom, which God has entrusted to us. Discernment helps us to sort out how the possible choices before us are being presented to us or are shaped by forces other than the Spirit of God. Discernment leads us to a sense of the “goodness” or “rightness” of our decisions. If the action we are about to take is truly good for us, it will bring good to others as well.