God wants the best for us, so we want to seek His insight and guidance as we walk life’s path. A commonly asked question is, “How do I make decisions about my life if God is in control?” I write extensively about God’s will for us and how we can perceive and respond. (See Created To Relate, Chapter 8, “Will of God Directs Us.”) God endows each of us with a measure of His spirit that connects us to the heavenly realm. This enables us to hear the promptings of God’s Spirit and come to understand His intended will for us.
God endows us with a measure of His Spirit so we can understand His will.
And yet, as we consider God’s sovereignty we must address the topic of our God-given free will. God does not act as a type of dictator. He functions according to His nature as a loving heavenly Father who desires us to experience the richness of daily relational interaction with Him.
In His supremely-loving way, God desires that we learn to hear His voice and choose to follow His lead. Hence, He endows us with a free will so we can choose His way of life.
We are all slightly and sometimes wildly different personalities and our situations are not exactly like anyone else. So, let’s examine how God’s sovereignty and our free will are intertwined.
Freely Submitting to the Supreme
God is not a bully, wanting to intimidate or control us. This is contrary to our Father’s love. Yes, God’s will is supreme, yet He gives us the freedom to choose when we respond and to what degree we partake of His will. He wants us to freely seek Him and His instruction.
God gives His offspring the ability and freedom to make a variety of choices: to further our education or training, whom to marry, where to live, what to do for a living, and how we conduct our lives. He allows us to be selfish or selfless, uncaring or compassionate, rude or courteous. He even gives us the option to receive or reject His guiding presence.
God is more concerned about why we choose,
than He is with what we choose to do.
Since God has given free will to all mankind, the will of God becomes more of our reality as we choose to submit to His will and ways. The will of God does not intend to restrict or limit our choices, but to provide better ones. God is more concerned about why we choose, than He is with what we choose to do.
It is like the question asked of Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” The answer was “go and be one” rather than qualifying who may be my neighbor. If we are receiving His insightful guidance and becoming the godly person He desires us to be, the everyday choices we make will tend to be blessed by God.
Decisions Guided by God’s Love
Our free will is a blessing when we choose to follow the guidance of God’s love in each of the choices we make. When we ignore the insightful guidance of the Giver of Life, our choices will tend to lead to deathly results. God provides a better way for us to relate to each other.
Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove [make so] what the will of God is (Romans 12:2).
Put on the new self, who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created…(Colossians 3:10).
Our fellowship with God allows us to partake of His insight regarding each of our life situations and circumstances.
Each of us can receive fresh and inspiring thoughts from God.
Each of us can receive fresh and inspiring thoughts as God shares elements of His will for us as an individual. God’s sharing presence can produce a cleansing and refreshing effect, like running water (Ephesians 5:26). It can produce fruitfulness in our life (Luke 8:11-15; James 1:21-25).
Our soft adjustment to His “revealing will and ways” helps us become more mature children. As we choose to yield to the voice of God, we find a peaceful rest for our troubled soul (Matthew 11:28-30). Our lives become full and rewarding when we mature into disciplined children of God who ask, seek, and knock regarding His will (Matthew 7:7). Isn’t this something we all desire?
Part 2 answers the question, “Does God actually speak to us, personally, in our everyday lives?” Read it HERE.
Keith Carroll, Relational Gospel Founder
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