Having been created with free will, we are free to choose, free to love, and free to serve. It was for these things we were created in the very image of God Himself. Free will has a dark side as well. Since we are free to choose we are also free to hate, to be selfish, and to reject the God who gave us life. We can – and usually do – pursue whatever we desire.
There is no master blueprint for your life; that would violate the very notion of free will. God created you with everything you would need to live the incredible life He envisioned for you. It is us – you and me – who make the choices that send our lives off the rails.
There are days I wish God would lead me by the hand and orchestrate all the events around me so I could realize all of my dreams. There are two problems with this. First, many of my dreams over the years have been centered on building my own Kingdom rather than the Kingdom of God. Second, if God controlled both my actions and the actions of others, He would have to remove free will from the world. The implication is staggering. Without free will, we could never know love. I’m all for a peaceful and comfortable life, but not at the expense of experiencing love.
At its core, free will is all about love. Without free will, we cannot love or be loved. Since God is the perfect embodiment of love, He knew to be in relationship with His creation, He would have to give them the beautiful gift of free will. Because of this, we have the ability to love God. We have the capacity to love others, and we have the potential to live our lives in service to the rest of His magnificent creation.
Let’s go back to the dark side of free will for a moment. God knew the risk of imparting free will to His creation. He knew Satan would try and exploit it as a weakness rather than a beautiful gift. We turn free will into a curse when we reject the God who gave it to us. As long as we keep our eyes on Jesus, love Him with all that we are, and love everyone else in the same way, then free will is the greatest gift ever bestowed on anyone. When exercised properly, free will allows us to love and to be loved. When wielded for purposes other than what God designed, free will results in fatal selfishness, pride, and excess.
Is it more important to you to love God or to love yourself and the life you are creating? The choice really is yours to make. God loves you so much that He holds nothing back from you. He loves you enough to let you walk away. He loves you with an ever burning passion to see you return to Him. You will always have the choice to love, serve, and obey the One who created you, the One who has nothing but the best in mind for you. But you will also always have the choice to walk away and try it your own way. The choice will always be yours, but know the consequences will always result in God’s will or your own. Which do you think will work out better?