Choices

Choices. Everybody faces them everyday. Each day brings forth a plethora of new options that didn't exist the day before. Life gets increasingly more complex and we can easily fall into the trap of just trying to keep up.

Years ago there were two options for coffee: leaded and unleaded. Now, you get to choose from “mocha”, “cappuccino”, “frappe”, “latte”, “macchiato”, and other assorted flavors and styles. Years ago you chose between “Crest” or “Colgate” toothpaste. Now you can select from any of 36 different "Crest" products alone, not to mention all the new brands that came out.

Making the right decision usually isn't that easy, either. We often find ourselves asking tough questions like:

• “What career field should I work in?”
• “Who should I marry?”
• “Do I drink alcohol at the party?”
• “Do I even GO to this party?”

How can we possibly make the best decision for our lives in the light of all our options?

Free Will

From the time we were little children we have always needed the wise direction and counsel of other people to help us shape our free will. The Bible says, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is older he won't depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6). As we get older we feel more and more pressure to "be our own person", independent of other people.

Of all the creatures in the world, only human beings were given the ability to think freely, and not live our lives entirely by instinct. Cougars hunt to eat, and sleep to rest for the next hunt. Humans could live like that, but we have inside us a desire to be fulfilled beyond the basics. That is the essence of our free will.

Thankfully God did not leave us on this earth merely to ponder what it means for us to live a fulfilled life. He shows us the way to get there.

and in keeping with his particular nature or “bent” — Amplified Bible