Free Will

There is nothing better in life than raising children to show us free will in action.  By free will I mean, as Jonathan Edwards explains, God’s allowance of us to make choices based on our disposition.  To the naïve and delusional this may seem well and good.  Yet when we examine the nature of man (Rom. 3:10-12; Gen. 8:21), we discover that apart from divine intervention our disposition inclines us only toward evil.  This is even true for the seemingly good and their benevolent acts.  What seems good to man in reference to man’s standards must be seen in the light of a holy God and His perfect standard.  When compared to God’s standard, man fails to “make the grade.”  This is even true of our dear children.  We love them and cherish their little personalities, but apart from the Lord’s hand they are doomed to sin and separation, forever!  Lest we delude ourselves though, we need to recognize that the struggle against our sinful disposition does not end at justification.  It is then that the struggle begins in earnest (Rom. 7:15,21-24).  The sanctification process is a lifelong struggle, in the strength of the Lord, of becoming holy, as our God is holy.  Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, that it is He who will save us from this wretched body of death.  And it is so.