“Choose this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15).
We often hear people say that they have “given up” their will to the Father or “surrendered” their will to Christ, but this is to miss the point. God doesn’t want me to give up my will, but to use it in making choices that conform to His desires. The will is the embodiment of my life and it will continue to exercise itself as long as I draw breath; the task that I have is to exercise it in favour of God’s wishes hourly, daily and continually.
This takes practice and that is why the Christian life is a two steps forward and one step backwards sort of experience for most people.
God’s word and God’s way is plainly set forth in the scriptures; it is not a matter of what God will do, but of what we will do; we are the ones who have to make up our minds to follow Him. He has done all there is for Him to do; the rest is up to us. He cannot do our repenting for us; that is our task. He cannot do our obeying for us; that is something that each one of us must do.
“If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He is not able to deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).
Our free will is so free that it can choose to be unfaithful, but that choice will lead to disaster. Following God is not something that can happen as a result of some sort of spiritual osmosis.
It has to be a deliberate calculation in everything with which we are faced.
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