Your will is not as free as you suppose. Your upbringing, culture, personality, conscience, friends and acquaintances, role models, and the media have shaped you in many ways. For instance, if you are shy, your decisions at a party would be different than an outgoing person’s choices.<\/p>\n
The community has further restricted your will by laws regulating your conduct in public, including in your home, on the streets, school, and workplace. Drugs, alcohol, and medication may also inhibit your free will, discouraging or encouraging you to take steps a sober person may never take.<\/p>\n
The sanctified Christian’s free will is different from the free will of the unregenerate, although both share many of the same limitations. The Christian can tell God, “Lord, I give you my life. I give you permission to bring anything into my life to conform me into the image of your son. Use me to fulfill your purpose for me.” We enjoy free will the most when we learn of God’s will and voluntarily give ourselves to it. God is in control because we have freely of our own will given him permission to work in our lives.<\/p>\n
The Christian freely limits his actions, thoughts, and words to the direction of the Word of God. In doing so, the Christian finds greater life as God indwells that person. The Christian, freed from the forces of sin, has the liberty to say yes to God’s will. The person controlled by sin can only say, “I can’t follow God.”<\/p>\n
What Do You Think?<\/strong><\/p>\n a. If you claim to have a free will, can you choose to follow God no matter what?<\/p>\n b. Which person has a freer will, the one who takes money illegally when tempted, or the one who refrains from taking the money?<\/p>\n c. How can self-restraint be a good form of free will?<\/p>\n d. Are there forms of self-restraint that go against free will?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Your will is not as free as you suppose. Your upbringing, culture, personality, conscience, friends and acquaintances, role models, and the media have shaped you in many ways. For instance, if you are shy, your decisions at a party would … Continue reading