OUR FREEDOM TO CHOOSE

We need to understand that God did not create evil. Evil is a result of disobedience against God's command. Evil began when Satan rebelled against God and wanted to become God himself. He didn't want to submit to the authority of God anymore and used deception to get a third of the angels to follow him. The Bible didn't give us specific numbers of angels that God created, but we know that there are myriads of myriads of them. It could be millions of millions or even billions of billions. We don't know. However, Satan and those who followed him are now enemies of God, and they bring lies, confusion, and chaos in this world. Their main purpose is to destroy what is good because they hate God and everything that He created, including humans. And this is the reason Satan tempted Adam and Eve to disobey God's command. We are capable to disbobey God because of the freedom of choice or free will that God gave us. God wants us to choose to obey and love Him freely. Although God has the power to make us like AI robots or machines, He didn't create us that way because He wanted a loving relationship with us. 

God created us with emotions (the ability to love freely), intellect (the ability to solve complex problems), physical (the ability to have five senses: smell, taste, touch, hear, and listen), and spiritual (the ability to connect with God). All of these are working together with our free will. With our emotions, intellect, physical, spiritual, and free will, we can choose however we want to live our lives. As a result, God gave us His commandments to lead us to the right way of living, which is living according to His will and purpose. After all, God created us for Himself and glory. Satan wanted to live outside of God's commandments because He wanted to live according to how he felt. He wanted to be autonomous from God's will. With Satan's desire to no longer be under God's authority, evil was born. Adam and Eve would face the same important decision in the Garden of Eden. We will talk about that next week. 

The challenge we face today is whether to remain in God's authority or to pursue our own desires apart from His will. We cannot live between the two. We need to make a decision today about who we should follow: God or ourselves. Jesus encourages us with these words in John 12:26, "Anyone who wants to serve me must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me."

Questions for application: (Think through these questions carefully, meditate on them while answering them, and let the Spirit of God speak to you.) Who should I follow today: God or myself? What happens if I follow God? What are the consequences of living according to how I feel rather than obeying God? 

Take a moment to write down all your worries today. Then, lift them to God in prayer, surrendering them to His will and trusting in His guidance.

Prayer:

Dear Father in Heaven, evil existed because of disobedience to your commandments. Please help me to live according to your will, for you created me for your glory. Although I have a desire to live according to my ways, I believe that your ways are better than my ways. Your purpose and ways are better than mine. Do not let my heart and mind wonders of the things of this world. Please keep me at your side. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.