I Chooseনমুনা

Why I Get to Choose

There’s this theological concept called free will. I’m not talking about the early 90s summer box office hit about an orca. However, if you’ve seen the flick, you probably liked it. I think we make and enjoy stories about freedom because of something God wrote into our hearts. I believe God created humans with the ability to make choices that alter outcomes. Abraham prayed, and Lot’s family was spared. Zacchaeus climbed up a tree, and Jesus came over to his house for an evening and into his life forever. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and unleashed the law of sin and death.

I’m almost 30 years old, and I’m coming to some realizations about choice. When I die, my life on earth will be largely (but not completely) made up of choices. Some will be other people’s choices, but most will be mine. The tissue in my body will leave clues about what I chose to eat and how often I chose the discipline of exercise.

The results of my career will point to what I decided was meaningful and important in the world. The confidence and faith of my two sons and two daughters will tell a story of how often I surrendered my will to God or doubled down on my own sense of perfection and control. The words of people who come to my funeral will give up the secret about whether I chose purpose each day or popularity. My choice to make Christ my Savior will have directed all of these choices and it will determine where my soul is on that day.

I’m not saying our choices are the only power at work in our world. No, that would make us God. While God often works through us, He also works in ways we can’t naturally comprehend. We battle against dark powers that oppose God and our godly choices. This is why choice is different from control. Right choices don’t guarantee desired outcomes. That would be control. God understands this too.

He can’t do wrong, yet many of the people He loves deny Him. Why? Because He took a loving risk and gave us the ability to choose. If He hadn’t, we’d all believe in Him and do whatever He wanted. Yet, because of His invention of choice, I get to choose to believe what I cannot see. I get to have faith. And Scripture says, without faith, it’s impossible to please God.

Maybe that’s why God wrote the freedom of choice into my story. Maybe the all-powerful God gave us choice to make faith possible, and faith to make a mutual relationship with Him plausible, and relationship to make getting closer to Him irresistible. Honestly, I don’t know for sure, but I choose to believe God’s good and He loves me.

Pray: God, I don’t comprehend all Your ways, but despite not seeing fully, I choose to fully believe You’re good and You love me. I’d like to make my choices line up with Your will. Will You continue to reveal Your desires to me?

Jason Inman, content developer at Life.Church