Free Will by Frances M. McCrory-Meservy May 21, 2016
No where in scripture does it say for us (Christians) to make decisions for other people or even for each other. We have a hard time changing our own selves into what we perceive is right. We as individuals have to rely on God to help us change. We can’t get inside another person and help them do that.
When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, His Holy Spirit moved into our being and became sealed to our spirit. That gave each of us a direct connection to Him/God. That’s how He can help each person change. He is the only person who knows what His will is for each of us.
He created each of us different. We have talents, gifts and callings on our lives and no two of them are exactly alike. That’s one of the reasons we each have to chose each step, action and word. Everything in life is a choice for each individual.
Even when we are witnessing to someone, we can’t convince them that Jesus is who He says He is unless God draws him/her to Him. The best way for us to witness to others is how we live, work, play and the words out of our mouths. If we are busy controlling ourselves, we will not have enough time to try to control someone else.
Scripture does say that if you see your brother sin, go talk to him. Brother means fellow Christian and sin is only sin if scripture says it is. Don’t pull scripture out of context to prove something is a sin because if you have to do that, it is probably not a sin.
If the person is not a Christian, don’t tell him that he is sinning. You will just make him angry. Then he will not listen to you. In fact he should do whatever he wants to because this is the only heaven he will ever know and hell is yet to come.
He’s not going to hell for what he does; he is going to hell for not believing Jesus. For us this is the only hell we will know and Heaven is yet to come. Therefore because we believe Jesus we do not deliberately sin.
Jesus never told anyone how to run their businesses, He never boycotted a business and He had nothing to say about politics. He contended for the faith when confronted by the Jewish leaders (religious). He also taught God’s word to any who wanted to hear him; but he never pressured anyone to listen.
God sets up Governments and tears them down. He puts kings, presidents and other leaders (including religious leaders) in place for whatever He wants to accomplish.
The Sanhedrin had Jesus killed because he was a threat to the Jewish religion. In other words for religious, political reasons. He went silently to the cross and died for everyone’s sins. In effect the Sanhedrin inadvertently helped Jesus accomplish what he was born to do.
Forcing our Christian beliefs on others and businesses is totally wrong. It is very un-Christ like. If we are striving to be like Jesus, we should think about what He would do.
He did kick the money changers out of the Temple; but he did not tell them how to run their business. Nor did he tell people who used the money changers that they should not get their money exchanged from the area where they were from into the money Jerusalem accepted. He did say they could not do it in the Temple.
He did not kick the people who were selling animals used for sacrifices from the Temple court of the Gentiles. Since they traveled a long way, they were allowed to purchase those animals to fulfill their obligations to God. The money changers just had to find someplace outside the Temple area to exchange the money.
In this land of freedom (USA) we have more rights than most nations. We have the free will that God gives us as individuals promised in our Constitution. We have the right to worship as we please no matter which God we chose to worship. We are allowed to practice that religion however we chose. We are allowed to talk about our faith to people of other faiths and try to persuade them; but we do not have a Constitutional right to force our beliefs on others. That’s the beauty of America.
Free will : the ability to choose how to act
: the ability to make choices that are not controlled by fate or God
: voluntary choice or decision <I do this of my own free will>
: freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention
money changer
: one whose business is the exchanging of kinds or denominations of currency
: a device for holding and dispensing sorted change
Psa 139:13-14 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Phil 2:12-13 …. work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
Lev 1:3 'If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will ….
Lev 22:19 'you shall offer of your own free will ….
Lev 22:29 "And when you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the LORD, offer it of your own free will.
Deu 30:15, 19 "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, .. "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
Josh 24:15 "And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
Job 9:14 "How then can I answer Him, And choose my words to reason with Him?
Job 15:5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth, And you choose the tongue of the crafty.
Job 34:3-4 For the ear tests words As the palate tastes food. Let us choose justice for ourselves; Let us know among ourselves what is good.
Job 34:33 Should He repay it according to your terms, Just because you disavow it? You must choose, and not I; Therefore speak what you know.
Prov 3:31 Do not envy the oppressor, And choose none of his ways;
Prov 12:26 The righteous should choose his friends carefully, For the way of the wicked leads them astray.
Phil 1:21-24 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.
John 6:44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
Mat 7:1-5 "Judge not, that you be not judged. "For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. "And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? "Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/free%20will