Free Will

Monday, January 13, 2014

I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.  I love God’s law with all my heart.  But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind.  This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.  Oh, what a miserable person I am!  Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?  Thank God!  The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.   Romans 7:21 – 25a (NLT)

Hard places

Soft places

Dangerous places

Safe places

Loving people

Judgmental people

Helpful people

Stumbling block people

Black, Yellow, Red, White and Mulatto people

God has given us a world filled with choices and free will to do evil, good and all in-between. When I was growing up, my parents did about the same.  They gave me a lot of latitude to make mistakes; I took them up on the offer – frequently (and painfully).

The one thing I constantly see about this is, while the good choices, healthy and healing choices far outnumber the ones that hurt, it is the hurtful choices that tend to fascinate and draw me like a moth to the flame.  Call it self-destructive, pathological or just plain stupid, you cannot miss that it is part of our nature.

I have never seen an eleven year-old boy who, left on his own, could resist stepping in fresh cement.  That “WET PAINT” sign means nothing, if not, please touch here!

This predilection towards poor choices (sin, if you like), is convictable – first degree!  We choose it, and we do it full-knowing that the good choices far outweigh and out-number the bad choices.  Have you ever noticed that the Garden of Eden’s description was of God providing a tremendous variety, all of which were meant to be a blessing to the human family – and only ONE TREE was forbidden?  Which tree drew them in?

And so, if Scripture illustrates life – and life interprets Scripture, what do we conclude? 

We have a sinful nature.

With all of the diversity God has created – even in the human appearance – we choose the hurtful way every time.  We all do!  We ALL do that, and no amount of self-help books or pull-myself-up-by-my-bootstrap philosophy could ever dig me out of that hole!

A little help please.

God doesn’t specialize in a little help.  He sent Jesus – “plan A”!

In Jesus Christ we find not that He has taken away all the temptation and our magnetized leaning towards sin, but rather He has gives us a new nature which craves His way more than the old way.

Today

You WILL sin today – as certainly as the sparks fly upward from a campfire.

But thanks be to God there is deliverance, overcoming, salvation – in Jesus Christ.

Lean on that!