Free-will

So it’s been awhile, I don’t really have any tangible reason for not posting; I’ve just been procrastinating but thank God for the grace to reach out to my virtual family.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m really bad with captions, but I believe this is centred round Acceptance and Free-will, with the biblical reference from (Luke 15:11-32)

We are free beings; God has given us free will, that’s one thing that differentiates us from animals. From the parable of Jesus in that chapter, He talked about losing on sheep and leaving the 99 to go look for just that one and also a woman who loses one coin from ten, how she’ll leave the remaining 9 to go look for the one. But in the case of the prodigal son, he swayed from the right path (which represents us when we go astray). God gives us basically everything He knows we need, but He allows us to make certain decisions, just like the son of the wealthy man asked for his own share of his wealth, the man didn’t object but allowed him make his decisions.

Unlike the prodigal son who later realized that he was better off as a servant in his father’s house than live in anguish; most of us find it quite hard coming back because of certain reasons (I believe has to do with pride) like the thoughts of starting all over to build that relationship with God, self condemnation, unwillingness to drop that habit, or peer pressure etc (we all have our different reasons). The bible says that we have an advocate who is always willing to intercede on our behalf (1 John2:1); but there’s something called the hardness of the heart, as you keep sinning, it’s not that the grace of God cannot reach you, but your heart becomes harden (the deceitfulness of sin; you start to normalize it and stiffen your heart) Hebrews 3:13.

We have to realize that we cannot deceive God; He totally understands us and knows we are mere humans with weaknesses, even the bible says in Hebrews 4:15; for we do not have a High priest (Jesus) who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet He did not sin. God just wants us to be willing and “sincerely” put in the effort and He will lead us through it. {There’s a huge difference between a believer that is struggling with a weakness and goes to the throne of grace to ask for grace and a believer that is consciously sinning and saying there’s grace}.

Willingness to do something but not making an effort is more like not wanting to” (the evidence of desire is pursuit); Steve Hill once said “there is no temptation that is uncommon to man, God will send you a way of escape but you’ve got to be willing to take that way of escape”. You just have to put in a little effort or just a bit more; (you can’t play with fire and expect not to get burnt, you can’t flirt with sin or addiction and expect not to yield). The bible says flee from sin (Ecc 21:2; flee from sin as from the face of a serpent: for if thou comest too near it, it will bite thee: the teeth thereof are as the teeth of lion, slaying the souls of men) so avoid some certain things, make an effort to stay away from compromising environments or situations and do not put the Lord your God to test (Matthew 4:7) by trying to see how you can miraculously overcome or stop something you didn’t make an effort to stop/curtail.

And do you know the most amazing thing about God; there’s no condemnation with Him (worldly sorrow drives us from Jesus in shame but Godly sorrow drives us to Jesus in repentance). We all have weaknesses, even the greatest men in the bible like Elijah right after killing 450 prophets of baal, asked God to take his life because common Jezebel threatened him, He didn’t trust that God that is always with him will rescue him from her (1 king 18), we know the story of how Moses disobeyed a direct instruction from God (Exodus 17) and how David committed adultery and murder (2 Samuel 11). But one thing remains constant, they recognized their weaknesses and “sincerely” went to the throne of grace to ask for grace and they also put in that effort.

God is rich in mercy!!! So what are you waiting for? Stop contemplating; there are irredeemable consequences that emanates from sin that most times are quite detrimental (eg lung cancer or brain damage from smoking, STDs from fornication/adultery, tearing your family apart from alcoholism or anger, extreme cases like getting burnt alive when caught stealing or get thrown in jail etc) so think about it, is that weakness really worth it??? When things start falling apart your eyes will clear oo. “Even the most gut-wrenching emotions are temporal”.

Most times you might feel you’re alone, the only righteous one at this time/age, saint compared to your peers, well the bible says you shouldn’t think so highly than you ought to, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement, in accordance with the faith God has given to each of us; Romans 12:3;). This reminds me of the story of Elijah in (1 King 19:13-18) when he felt he was the only righteous one remaining, God made him realize that He had over seven thousand in Israel who has neither knelt nor kissed Baal. So whenever you’re feeling overwhelmed, stay strong you’re not alone. Nothing you’re going through is new under the sun.

Finally I want to encourage you to stay right with God, there’s really no greater feeling than having this confidence that no matter what you go through, your hope will not be cut short (Proverb 23:18). No eye has seen, nor ear heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9)

Thank you