April 26, 2018

The ideas were bouncing around the room.

“Because of free will, some will never enter into the kingdom.”

“Do we give up our free will when we become Christians?”

What do you think?

Do we really have the free will we say we have?

The freedom to make our own choices.

The freedom to do our own thing.

I will say this: I believe we can choose our paths.

But, I doubt we have much power beyond that choice.

I can’t control what happens to me.

And, it is so hard to control how I respond to what happens to me.

Have you ever tried to go through a whole day without committing a sin? (If you believe in the concept.)

I mean, setting your mind, your will, your “free will” to say to yourself, “Today, I will make no mistakes .”

Can’t do it…I just can’t.

So what if I choose the path to make me a follower of Jesus.

Do I at that point give up my right to choose for myself?

Let’s say, I walk through this gate. The sign above it says “JESUS WAY.”

I didn’t get here on my own, and I know it.

Believe me, I tried…couldn’t make it work.

So, I made myself a prisoner to this new set of rules.

Except, for the first time in my life I felt free.

Free to live the way I had tried to live, and failed.

It was like, all of a sudden, everything in me changed.

I was not doing things because I felt like I had to.

I actually wanted to do these things.

It was like, I was making Jesus happy.

I knew he loved me…he paid my way in.

But, when suddenly, for the first time, I realized that I loved him…man, all I wanted to do was to show him that I loved hanging out with him, doing the same things he did.

And, as time goes on, I like being with him more and more.

And I still make choices.

They just work out better for me when they agree with his plans.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

2 Corinthians 3:17NIV

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

Romans 8:29 NIV

He will give you the desires of your heart.