What do you do with your free will?

WHAT DO YOU DO WITH YOUR FREE WILL?

Father God I feel so blessed knowing that You are my Father. Thank You for loving me and never letting go of my hand. Jesus Christ, You are my Saviour and best friend. Thank You for setting me free and giving me life eternal. Holy Spirit, because of You I can face tomorrow. You are in and around me all the time. Without You, I am nothing. Amen!

God created this world for us to live in, wanting us to love and enjoy every part of it. Furthermore, He loved us so much that when He created us, He gave us a very special gift and until this day and age, He has never taken it back. Since the creation of man up until this very day, He gives to all mankind the gift of free will. Yes, as babies we are dependent on our parents but even at that age we already exercise a strong will. Even babies decide if they want to drink a bottle or not, whether they want to open their mouths to be fed or not and if they want to sleep or not. As time goes by and we get older, our will grows stronger and we learn to exercise and control it in a certain way. I wonder how many people realise that our free will is a special gift from God, which He intended for us to use according to His will.

So, here we are living in an awesome world, yet full of so many challenges and it makes me wonder why? People just want more money, land and power and this has driven people, each with his/her own will, to the point that nations stand up against nations to force down power to gain economic growth. Nothing wrong with striving to better yourself, but one need to be careful that it is not to the downfall of others. Do we use our strong will to grow a healthy growth or a forced growth? Often when you force the growth of something, it only results in damage further down the line. Let us use an example of a young man who likes to gym. Someone sees that he has potential for body building and offers to train him. Seeing results quickly is the gain for hard work, correct? Yes, but where the challenge comes in, is that instead of maintaining a healthy build up, many often find themselves ending up in using steroids.

Yes, you grow bigger even faster, but in that same process you start to lose something of yourself. The steroids often affect emotions and thus behavior and more than often you here of such men exercising verbal and physical abuse. This is a typical example of a normal growth process influenced by a forced will, resulting in trauma. It is exactly the same with many other examples in life of wanting to earn more money, making more business deals, getting that car or boy/girl you wanted. In all of these decisions we don’t always choose natural approach and growth, we force our will on situations and people. You might be reading this thinking…..NO, not me. However, sit back and think carefully where you have used any form of manipulation to get what you wanted. This is nothing else but forcing your will down on a situation or someone.

Now, I don’t want you to think that I am exaggerating and saying you can’t make deals in business etc. No, I’m only saying that we should all be careful to force our will down on anyone. If you are honest and put a strong case forward, your options will always be looked at and I’m sure even considered if pitched to the right people at the right time and place. However, sometimes when people taste success and get addicted to it, they often overstep the line and force their way in, however subtle it might be. Others just don’t care, they simply “run” over people to get what they want.

Dear reader, as I am writing to you, this topic is so strongly pressed on my heart. Do you realise that we have probably all slipped at some point in time, not using our free will according to how God intended it to be? I know I have and praise God for the blood of Jesus because when I do slip, the Holy Spirit convicts my heart and I ask and receive forgiveness in the name of Jesus. Looking into the Bible we see many instances where people forced down their own will. In 2 Sam 11 we read how David forced his free will to get Bathsheba. He sent word that her husband had to be put in the front line where they were fighting, subsequently losing his life.

David had to face the consequences of his decision, having to go through the pain of losing the son that was born to him and Bathsheba. We read in Num 20:8 – 13 how God told Moses to speak to the rock and it would give water, however Moses hit the rock and had to face the consequences of not being able to go into the promise land. We continue to read of others like Jacob in Gen 27 who tricked his father in order to be blessed as firstborn, instead of Esau. Now in all these cases I am sure that all of them knew that they were doing wrong, yet they still did it. All these men were loved by God and He still blessed them, however having to deal with the consequences of their decisions, was certainly not nice.

I would like to ask that if we know that to force our will is wrong and that it will have consequences, whether now or later, why do we do it? I believe at that point in time we are driven by our earthly desires and instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to take over, we take control ourselves. You see dear reader, if you stand in Christ, the Holy Spirit will convict you and you will either correct your wrong immediately after it took place or even before it happens. However, if you are not in relationship with Christ you will still feel your heart telling you that to do it, it would be wrong. Why? Because God created you in His image and therefore your heart, which was created good, will tell you that it is wrong. The difference is once you start running over people, you might feel bad in the beginning but because you do it again and again, it eventually becomes second nature. I urge you not to fall into that trap.

The world is still beautiful and God still wants us to live in peace. However, so many people in the world has moved so far away from God that they don’t hear His voice in their hearts anymore. People kill and steal to survive and think that the only way to get anything is by being corrupt, like everyone else. What a sad day in our lives have we reached, if we start to think and act like that. A beautiful world, an ever-loving God and yet we choose to destroy and kill in order to gain more in life, losing ourselves in the process.

God intended our gift of free will to be special and to be used in accordance with His purpose for us. This firstly means to acknowledge God as King over our lives and to choose Jesus as our Saviour. Secondly it means to align our will to God’s will, which is to fulfill a positive role in our lives, marriages, jobs, family life and our choices. Hence, using your free will to work towards building trust, show love, forgive, help, encourage, empower, support and share with others. You see, when we get this right, individuals, families, communities, countries and the world will change for the good.

The question remains. If the answer is so simple, why do things in our world not get better? Because daily, we all have to decide what we will do with our free will.

Lord, please help all of us in this lovely world to use our free gift to honour you, by making the right choices. Amen!

What are you doing with the special gift that God gave you? What are you doing with your free will?

Lots of love

Princess K

Scripture is from the New International Version