God Gives Free Will
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:15-17)
From the very beginning, God has given all of humanity free will to make our own decisions. We are not pawns nor puppets, forced to do exactly what God wants us to do. Instead, He chose to give us free will.
For instance, in the Garden of Eden, God didn’t force Adam and Eve to eat only from certain trees. He didn’t miraculously strip the forbidden fruit from their hands when they were getting ready to take a bite. No, He told them His will and warned them of the consequences if they didn’t follow it. He didn’t force them not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
In the same way, God doesn’t force us to do things or to not do something while we are on this earth. Most importantly, He doesn’t make you accept His free gift of salvation and force you to become one of His followers. He will not make you turn from your sin and place your faith in Christ.
He will give you a desire and a tug in your heart. He will make you aware of your separation from Him because of your sin. He will reveal to you the brokenness of your relationship with Him, and the overall lack of that relationship. He will not make you come to Christ. He gives you the right will to do what He wants you to do, but He will not force you to respond to His will. That is up to you.
Our lives can take many different directions as a result of exercising our free will. Because we can make many decisions, let’s make good ones. With our God-given free will, let’s choose to follow Him. Make the conscious choice to give our lives to Christ, be baptized, join a church, get involved in a faith community, share our faith with others, and give generously. First and foremost, let our free will bring honor to the One who gave it to us.
From the very beginning, God has given all of humanity free will to make our own decisions. We are not pawns nor puppets, forced to do exactly what God wants us to do. Instead, He chose to give us free will.
For instance, in the Garden of Eden, God didn’t force Adam and Eve to eat only from certain trees. He didn’t miraculously strip the forbidden fruit from their hands when they were getting ready to take a bite. No, He told them His will and warned them of the consequences if they didn’t follow it. He didn’t force them not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
In the same way, God doesn’t force us to do things or to not do something while we are on this earth. Most importantly, He doesn’t make you accept His free gift of salvation and force you to become one of His followers. He will not make you turn from your sin and place your faith in Christ.
He will give you a desire and a tug in your heart. He will make you aware of your separation from Him because of your sin. He will reveal to you the brokenness of your relationship with Him, and the overall lack of that relationship. He will not make you come to Christ. He gives you the right will to do what He wants you to do, but He will not force you to respond to His will. That is up to you.
Our lives can take many different directions as a result of exercising our free will. Because we can make many decisions, let’s make good ones. With our God-given free will, let’s choose to follow Him. Make the conscious choice to give our lives to Christ, be baptized, join a church, get involved in a faith community, share our faith with others, and give generously. First and foremost, let our free will bring honor to the One who gave it to us.
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6 Comments
Thank you for a wonderful devotion. I am sometimes criticized for my commitment to my fath, even by family members
There was a time when I got ridiculed for my beliefs ,too. But, I also felt like I was a puzzle that had a piece missing. When I gave Jesus my heart and my life then I felt whole. We need to live our lives in Jesus 'love so that others will ask us what we have that they don't have. We need to keep planting those seeds.
***** "First and foremost, let our free will bring honor to the One who gave it to us."
Revelation 7:12 NKJV - saying: "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, Be to our God forever and ever. Amen."
Warm Greetings In Jesus Christ Mighty Name.Thanks This Powerful Sermon Really God Gave Us Free Will.This Is God's Great Gift Who Gave All Humanity.Amen
The Free Will Test
n
nGiven a choice, which of these two options would a rational person choose:
n
n1. You were created like every other animal. You experience pleasure but you cannot experience true love. You have no awareness of self. You are incapable of experiencing the joy of a relationship with God. As a trade off, neither you nor ANY OTHER CREATURE on earth will ever experience the horrific consequences of “the Fall”: billions of years of horrific suffering and death.
n
n2. You were created with self-awareness. You were created with free will. You can distinguish between what is morally right and what is morally wrong. You are free to choose the joy of an eternal relationship with God or the sorrow and misery of an eternity of rebellion against God. However, the trade off is this: just one slip up…and you lose it all! Just one wrong choice of your free will, and you and all creation will suffer horrific misery in this life and, for most, a painful miserable death…and then, an eternity of suffering and agony in Hell.
The Free Will Test
n
nGiven a choice, which of these two options would a rational person choose:
n
n1. You were created like every other animal. You experience pleasure but you cannot experience true love. You have no awareness of self. You are incapable of experiencing the joy of a relationship with God. As a trade off, neither you nor ANY OTHER CREATURE on earth will ever experience the horrific consequences of “the Fall”: billions of years of horrific suffering and death.
n
n2. You were created in the image of God. You were created with self-awareness. You were created with free will. You can distinguish between what is morally right and what is morally wrong. You are free to choose the joy of an eternal relationship with God or the sorrow and misery of an eternity of rebellion against God. However, the trade off is this: just one slip up…and you lose it all! Just one wrong choice of your free will, and you and all creation will suffer horrific misery in this life and, for most, a painful miserable death…and then, an eternity of suffering and agony in Hell.