Free Will Choices
“Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me and teach me your law.
I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I have set my heart on your laws.”
Today’s Text: Psalm 119:17-32 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
There is no contradiction between the sovereignty of God and the free will that He has granted to humanity. A great, great mystery, yes—but no contradiction. God is the source of free will, and so free will is part of the imago Dei (image of God) that God has imparted to every human soul.
According to God’s sovereign grace, His great plan of salvation for the world in and through Christ Jesus will be fulfilled one day. That was God’s sovereign plan; that was God’s free-will choice, predestined before time began.
And according to God’s sovereign plan, through faith in the gospel of Christ, we are united with Christ. Our union with Christ is the mechanism by which we are included in the salvation God provides for the world. And so, it is in and through our union with Christ that we are kept from deceitful ways.
But we have a choice to make. With the free will that God has granted to us, we can choose the way of faithfulness—that is, the way of Christ. Or we can choose to live our lives according to any number of other ways—the ways of Buddha, the ways of Hinduism, the ways of the world, and so on and so forth—and ultimately, the ways of me-myself-and-i, the unholy trinity.
But there is only one way that will keep me from deceitful ways and lead me into the sovereign grace of God’s salvation—the way of Christ.
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
— John 14:6
Is God being exclusive? The way is exclusive, but the way is open to all who choose the way of faithfulness in Christ.
And so, those who choose the way of Christ must set their hearts on reading, learning, and understanding the word of God.
That’s just wise. Maybe that’s why Solomon wrote,
The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.
— Proverbs 4:7
Father, Your are sovereign, and my life, my family, my ministry, and this whole world is in Your hands. I confess that I am prone to wander from Your ways. But keep me from deceitful ways. I have chosen the way of Christ. By the power of the Holy Spirit in me, write Your word into my heart. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
