The Choice Privledge

   In my “Game of Faith” message I tackled the question of why God lets us go through challenging times; this time, I’m going to talk about another difficult, commonly-asked question: If God is the Ruler of the Universe, why doesn’t He just make everyone follow Him? Why didn’t He make Adam and Eve obey Him in the garden? After all, He knew what Satan would try to do beforehand, right? This question has many different forms, but it all boils down to why doesn’t God just fix everything and everyone Himself, and make everything perfect now?

The answer is simple: God doesn’t make us do anything. Never has. Yes, He wants the world to be whole and perfect again. He wants us to obey Him and love Him, but He won’t force us to. He gives us the choice to love and obey Him, and He gives the world that choice, too. It’s because He loves us that He gives us a choice instead of choosing for us. He wants us to be happy.

It’s like if you really wanted to play basketball, but your parents made you do golf or some other sport instead. I know that’s a stupid analogy, but the point is that you would not be happy because you were being forced to do something that you really did not want to do. Not only that, but you might even become angry or resentful toward your parents for not letting you have the choice in what sport you played. God does not want to do that to us. He wants us to find happiness in a relationship with Him, but we do not want that, He will not force us into it.

Our God is not a God of force, but of love and choice. Never, ever has God forced anyone to do anything, not even Jesus. Jesus had the choice of not dying on the cross. He could have walked away and gone back up to Heaven without pain, but He didn’t. He chose to die for our sins. Jesus chose to obey God. He chose to love us enough to die on the cross rather than turn away and let us all be separated from Him and God forever!

Jesus could have admitted His innocence at any point. God could have chosen at any point to give up on us, but He didn’t. He chose us. Let that sink in. He chose to send a part of Himself, His Son, Jesus, to die for us. He chose to love and help us through our daily struggles and temptations. He chose to pursue us, so why wouldn’t He give us the same choice? The choice to choose Him, love Him, obey Him, pursue Him. That choice is ours. 

“Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.” (Genesis 2:19) 

- This is the first ever recorded choice God gave man: the naming of all the animals of the world. It may seem basic, but God could have easily named them Himself and relayed that information to Adam. This is an illustration of God giving man the freedom of choice.