Articles
Can't or Won't?
The words can’t and won’t are sometimes used interchangeably, but when we say that we can’t do something the most literal meaning would be that we are unable. In other words, the task in question is impossible or improbable due to our lack of ability or lack of opportunity. When we say that we won’t do something we are saying that we lack the desire or the will to participate in the task at hand.
Sometimes we say that we can’t, but we really mean that we won’t. When Boaz first approached the closer relative about the prospect of redeeming Elimelech’s property, the closer relative said, “I will redeem it.” (Ruth 4:1-6) However, when he realized that he would have to take Ruth as his wife and raise up an heir to Elimelech, he said, “I cannot.” What changed? Was he suddenly unable to afford what he had just said he was able to buy or was he unwilling?
Sometimes preachers or Bible class teachers may hear some capable teacher present a lesson and say, “I can’t teach like that.” We may study with another teacher and see the way that they organize their notes or the sheer volume of their notes and say, “I can’t prepare material like that.”
Yet, many of us may try new things or keep trying to teach because we know that it is important. In this process we have probably discovered that we can do a lot of the things that we once thought were impossible. We may have lacked the knowledge, but we didn’t really lack the ability and we have become better teachers and better Christians because we did not give up on the work.
Sometimes we say that we won’t, but maybe we should say that we can’t. The only thing keeping some Christians from committing certain sins may be the fact that the sin in question just doesn’t appeal to them. When Potiphar’s wife came to Joseph begging him to commit adultery with her, Joseph did not say that he was unwilling to do so (Genesis 39:7-10). He said, “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” Joseph viewed the prospect of committing this sin as an impossibility because he knew that God would know and be dishonored by his sin.
Have we ever been asked to try something new in our service to God that we knew was going to be difficult? Did we say, “I can’t,” all the while meaning that we were really just unwilling to go through what it might take to learn some new skill?
Have we ever been asked to participate in some unrighteousness only to decline..reluctantly? Maybe we have just continually struggled with some sin because it is so appealing and because we have never come to understand that God knows and that He is offended. Joseph’s convictions were such that, in spite of what he may have felt or desired, he felt incapable of committing the sin that Potiphar’s wife set before him because He knew that God would see his sin.
Can’t and won’t may rightly be used interchangeably at times, but they do technically express different ideas. So, let’s be like Joseph who was willing to do everything that he was able to do for God even as a slave and prisoner. Yet, when Potiphar’s wife made advances toward him day after day, Joseph said, “I can’t.” He was so unwilling to offend God that he viewed such a proposal as impossible.
