WHAT ABOUT OUR SELF WILL? HOW DOES IT FIT WITH GOD'S WILL?

 SERIES 1

  We have all understood from the beginning that God chose to create us with FREE WILL...but we have not always understood the reasons for it.  I would like to open up some of the possibilities for your consideration. There is no doubt that we are here to make a choice as to whether we accept God's wonderful choice of salvation through our belief in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior? Much has been written and said about the process of that decision for each individual, and how different it can be for each of us to make. I could sit and listen to various testimonies of how people have gone through that decision process for hours without getting tired of hearing about it.

For a great number of people today free will means having a sense of control over their lives which is one of the basic natural human desires that leads to feelings of comfort and security in life.  If we are honest people do not give any of those things up easily. In fact, the mental and spiritual connection between free will and freedom in this country are almost interchangeable.  For us to be asked to give up such a thing for the love of God becomes a very hard nut to crack for most Christians as well and yet it leads directly to the love that God speaks to developing within us.  When we hear the words" LOVING GOD WITH OUR WHOLE HEART, MIND, AND STRENGTH" what does that really mean to us?

When it comes to the very essence of what we understand about our world; it seems like we are dealing with giving up life, and when we do that there is nothing left to give. God did the same thing for us by dying on the cross for our sins while we were still sinners, and God never does anything without a reason. He has more planned for us than just giving away life as we have always known it. God's intention is to radically change us through the idea of perfecting our love through self-will. What God is doing is perfecting our love for Him through self-will through transformation. Paul speaks about it in his Roman letter by writing about changing our minds and hearts toward God by willingly sacrificing our lives daily and at the same time God replacing the very parts of us that we sacrifice to Him with a completely new attitude and frame of reference. This not only changes our character to fit into God's perfect Kingdom but also perfects our love for God, which is why we were given free will to choose in the first place. 

It is our free will to love God in the first place; God made us so we would have to make the choice in our hearts about returning the love that has already been shown to us.  It is that act of loving God that comes from our heart to His that perfects love. We may not see the connection because we may have never seen or understood the perfection of love in this physical world but just think about what that kind of love may feel like when the whole creation you love so much has been turned into hating you? After God healed and loved mankind, there was only a remnant of those He healed who came back to thank Him.  That is the kind of perfected love that God is trying to make real in our transformed life.  I want to speak to you more about the new creature Christ is cultivating in you in the series 2 blog. Until then may you richly bless God through your life in Him.

                                                     THE UNWORTHY SERVANT