The Gift of Free Will

“My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen carefully to my words. Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body. Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech. Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.”

Proverbs 4:20-27 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/pro.4.20-27.NLT

Proverbs 4:20-27 says to me: Be intentional and conscious of the way you live and how you use your words. Sometimes, we don’t realize the amount of power we have over ourselves, and even others. Free will is a gift that will always be there. But like anything else, it becomes less special when you have it all the time but don’t attach intention or purpose to it. Think about your most favorite food in the world. Now, what if you had it for every meal, every day of your life just because? Do you think it would still be your favorite after a while? 

Free will is like that. God is not a controlling God, so the gift of free will is always available to us. He will never force to do His will, so life could sound like: 

“Well, I don’t HAVE to pray. I don’t HAVE to study the Word. I don’t HAVE to submit under a pastor or go to church. I don’t HAVE to choose the right thing over wickedness or what my flesh wants.”

And all of these things would be absolutely correct. You don’t HAVE to make strides to live a life that is pleasing to God. But think, what will life begin to look like if we always exercise our free will to do whatever we want? Never truly heeding, following, or obeying the instructions for life God has laid out for us. Quite frankly, I don’t want to find out what that would look like because even if life doesn’t go sour, and everything I do in my own will actually works out for me, I know that I am committing to living a life void of God’s unbreakable promises, unimaginable goodness and unlimited favor and well, I’d much rather have THAT in my life! My plans may crash and burn but God’s never will. 

So Proverbs 4 urges us to allow the words of God to penetrate  our hearts and cautions us as believers to always stay mindful of our  speech and choices in our every day lives. Every choice leads us further down a path, and there are only two paths to choose from: a path of light and life or path of death and darkness. I want stay on the well lit path that is promised to bring me unmatched joy, peace, and fulfillment. I encourage you to just keep Proverbs 4 in the back of your mind today as you make thousands of decisions throughout your day today. How many will be led by you? How many will be led by the Holy Spirit?