From God comes…
From God comes free will.
God is all powerful. He could have created us to blindly follow Him, but He didn’t. Instead He gave us free will. In other words, we are free to make our own choices. God does not force us to do what He wants us to do. We would probably be better off if He did.
Free will is synonymous with making choices. God gives us the ability to make our own choices. To help use wisdom in this process, God put certain laws into motion, such as cause and effect. Biblically speaking this means we will reap what we sow. Certain things we sow could lead to corruption, while others lead to eternal life. (Galatians 6:7-8)
God will not automatically give us good habits or self-discipline. God will not obtrude moral character upon us. We get these things by actively practicing Christian principles we’ve been taught. That’s why we study God’s words and integrate what we learn into our lives. Timothy was told to train himself in godliness. (1 Timothy 4:7)
God offers us His instruction and encourages us to take it. (Psalm 32:8) He tells us not to be like a horse or a mule who must be harnessed with a bridle before they will come near you. (Psalm 32:9) God does not want to control us. He wants us to freely come to Him. God wants us to choose to obey out of love for Him and because we truly feel He knows what is best.
We cannot save ourselves. God does that. We cannot do what God does and God will not do for us what we can do for ourselves. That’s why He tells us to work out our own salvation. (Philippians 2:12) In other words, God gives us salvation and we “work out” what we will do with it. That’s where free will comes in.
God longs for a relationship with us, but He will not impose it on us. He will beckon or encourage us to come to Him. He will make Himself available. He will love us. He will stand at the door and knock, but He won’t come in and fellowship with us unless He is invited. (Revelation 3:20) He initiates, but we must respond on our own.
God has given us free will and does not make us to do what He wants or what is best for us. He allows us to go our own way if that’s what we choose to do. God does not use His supreme power to control us because God is not a God of control; He is a God of love.
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“Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God…”
~James 1:17 (NLT)
