The Human Will

Jesus said, “If any man will do His (God’s) will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself” (John 7:17). This essay is not about man’s will versus God’s will, it is about what one attempts to “bring about by the exercise of his mental power.” What do you intend to bring about in your future? What do you hope to accomplish? What do you strive after? The thought is usually phrased, “the will to… (Write in a word that describes the object of your intention, such as power, pleasure, meaning, self-esteem, prosperity or self-denial). I present six men who advanced the above belief systems and gained a considerable following.


The will to power: Friedrich Nietzsche dreamed of a world of super people and thought that by teaching people his philosophy he could produce it. He wrote about “the will to power.” Everyone is in a quest for power, he said. Hitler took up Nietzsche’s philosophy, added brutality in order to eliminate the nonconformists, and set out to create a “super race.” Millions were influenced by Nietzsche, and millions more were exterminated by Hitler. Karl Marx and his successors, Lenin and Stalin, made the same use of power in an attempt to create a communist world, first by philosophy and then by elimination. Little men who do not understand the purpose of life are still engaged in a “power grab.” Search your heart and see if you are a controlling person? Do you try to manipulate or control others? If so you hold the same philosophy Nietzsche and Hitler had; the only difference is the degree of control you use.

The will to pleasure: Sigmund Freud made pleasure his quest. He believed that pleasure is the motivational force of life and suggested that people live for pleasure, long before the hippy “me generation” said, “If it feels good, do it.” His philosophy of pleasure corrupted generations and is still believed and practiced. Again, search your heart and be sure that, in this “I” (like in i-pod, i-phone, i-everything) generation, your will is not set on yourself and your pleasure.

The will to meaning: Viktor Frankyl, the Viennese psychologist, spent more than three years in Hitler’s forced labor camp thinking about the meaning of life. He put his thoughts in books after the war. I was quite impressed with his book, The Will to Meaning, and have used some of his insights in private counseling. From Frankyl I learned that life’s greatest values are “attitudinal values.”

The will to “whatever you can believe for”: Kenneth Copeland, following his prosperity cult predecessors and enlisting a great following himself, has been saying for years that “God wants all of His children to be rich.” He says that anyone can have anything he can believe for. He and his wife Gloria have believed for an expensive ranch, a private plane and a combined annual income of more than $400,000. I have never heard him say why his prosperity gospel doesn’t work for people in poverty stricken nations. Would more “faith in faith” really bring them out of their poverty? Perhaps the gospel of wealth only works for God’s privileged (or opportunistic) children in wealthy nations.

The will to self-esteem: Robert Shuler wrote a book in 1984 with the title, Self-esteem, the Last Frontier. I went to the Crystal Cathedral bookstore that year with the thought of buying a copy. Thumbing through it, I observed that Jesus desired fulfillment and died on the cross to “sanctify His self-esteem.” I put the book back on the shelf, marked Shuler off of my worthwhile reading list, and left the store.

The will to self-denial and humility: Jesus said, “If any man will (wills to) come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). He also said, “Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted” (Luke 14:11).

What is your will for the future? Is it power, pleasure, meaning, whatever you can believe for, or self-esteem; or is it self-denial and humility like Jesus, who says, “If you want to be like me, follow me.”?