"Chopped Liver or M&Ms"
- Gary Brooks
- Nov 25, 2008
For those who know my son Jesse, it's fairly common knowledge that he loves his Peanut M&M's. It used to be Snickers King Size, but at some point along the way, he transferred his allegiance to the multi-colored chocolate delights. I think it's because he can pour them into a small bowl and enjoy them for several days versus feeling the compulsion to polish off a Snickers in one sitting. It's a pretty interesting phenomena actually. Whenever payday rolls around, which for Jesse is every two weeks, we make our after-work trek up the hill from our house to Schnucks where he makes his big purchase. Now understand, there is a wide variety of candy to choose from, and he has the complete freedom to choose whatever he wants. In fact, many times I have encouraged him to venture out just a bit and try something new, but he always goes right to the Peanut M&M's (oh, and I forgot to mention, a bottle of A&W Diet Root Beer to go along with the M&M's...hmmm, maybe he's into candy and beverages that are identified by two letters!). Now, who knows, maybe the day will come when Jesse will make another change, maybe to Reese's Pieces. But if he ever does, believe me when I say it will be a cataclysmic event in the Brooks family, because his desire and longing is always and ever for the M&M's.
So let's say I place in front of Jesse a bowl of M&M's and a plate of chopped liver. Or not even that extreme - a bowl of M&M's and a bowl of salad or pretty much anything that is of greater nutritional value than Peanut M&M's. Which is Jesse going to choose? That's right. If I were to do it a hundred times, which would he choose? A thousand times? You're right, a thousand times Jesse would choose the M&M's, even though he has the freedom to choose whatever he wants.
Jonathan Edwards wrote, "The will always chooses according to its strongest inclination at the moment." R. C. Sproul elaborates: "According to Edwards, a human being is not only free to choose what he desires, but he must choose what he desires to be able to choose at all...This means that every choice is free and every choice is determined," not by some external force coercing the will, but because of one's internal motivation or desire. In short, the driving principle is this: our choices are determined by our desires.
Now here's our problem. Apart from the intervening work of God in a person's life, we have no desire for God, just like Jesse has no desire for chopped liver, even though it is of much greater nutritional value and healthier for him than the M&M's. God is much "healthier" for us, both in the short-term (this life) and the long-term (eternal life), but because of original sin and its all-pervasive effect on our hearts (also termed total depravity), we do not desire God. Romans 3, verses 11 and 12 summarizes it well: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." So while we have free will and are free to choose between seeking the one true God and not seeking him, apart from the electing work of God's grace, none of us will seek him, not for a hundred days or a thousand days or ten thousand days, because, as Edwards observed, "the will always chooses according to its strongest inclination at the moment," and as God observed, every inclination of the thoughts of our hearts are only evil all the time (Genesis 6:5).
And so, with all the other "M&M lovers" throughout history, Jesse and I are both so very thankful that God came after us and drew us to himself with his electing love (Ephesians 1:3-6), implanting on the taste buds of our hearts a brand new yearning and love for the One who alone is able to satisfy the longings and appetites of our hearts.
(This articles ties in with the 3-week sub-series under "The God Series" titled "The Wonder of Salvation." To hear the audio of these teachings click here)
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