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One of the things that God gives all of us, is Free Will. The free will to choose to do what is right and what is wrong; the free will to choose to do good or evil, and to choose to love or to hate.  Let's begin by defining doing what is "right" and "wrong," and we should not define either from our own subjective perspective.  Here is the true meaning of both: Doing what's Right means doing what is best for the greater or common good.  Doing what's right does not enforce your own personal beliefs, and is not based on your own personal needs. Doing what's Wrong means doing what is immoral, inaccurate, illegal, not correct in action, as well as not in accordance with what is morally right or good. I am assuming that God gave us free will with the hope and intention that we would all choose to do what is morally right, good, and to choose love instead of hate. 

Let's be honest, we do not always do what is right.  When we look back over our lives, I'm sure that there are some things that we wish we could have a second chance to do the right thing instead of doing the wrong thing.  As we get older, we realize that we have to be careful how we live our lives, because the things that we did earlier in life, follow us into adulthood and you never know what you will become, i.e., President, government official, business owner, famous celebrity, etc., and how those decisions can affect your future.  Sometimes, I wish that God did not give us the option to choose for ourselves what to do in certain situations, because on some occasions, we might not choose to do what’s right, because it might be easier to do what’s wrong.   

 

I now realize that free will was given to all of us to help us determine our moral responsibility.  We are morally responsible for our own thoughts and behaviors.  Before we do anything, I think that if we asked ourselves, "Is this morally the right thing to do?," all of us would make better choices in life.  Perhaps, if we govern our lives with this question in mind, "If what you do was going to be on the front cover of the newspaper tomorrow would you still do it?," we would at least think about doing what is morally right. 

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Yes, we can do whatever we choose to do, God gave us the freedom to choose.  However, just keep in mind that all of our choices have consequences whether good or bad.  When we choose to do the wrong thing, bad outcomes are usually the end result.  Usually, we don't think about morality until after we have a bad outcome. 

 

There are some people who refute that we have free will, because they believe that our choices are predetermined by God.  However, if our choices are predetermined by God, let's be honest, we wouldn't do half of the things that we do and God would not consent to some of the things that we do.  And, we don't always listen to God.  In my opinion, this is one of the reasons why the Bible talks about obeying God, dying to self, and submission.  If our choices were predetermined, there would be no reason to mention obedience, dying to self, or submission.  Most people only think of free will as a bad concept when they choose to do the wrong thing that produces a negative outcome.  Even after knowing that God gives us the free will to choose, I still wrestled with whether or not God should have entrusted us with that option, because in my humanness, I don't always do what is right. 

 

Perhaps, earlier in my life, I wrestled with why God entrusted us with free will, because I wasn't looking at all of my behaviors as moral choices.  I wasn't mature enough to understand the importance of being held accountable for the decisions that I made in life, until after those decisions had negative consequences.  When thinking about doing what is right or what is wrong, I challenge All of us to reflect on the decisions that we made in life that lead us up to how our lives are today.  May your time of reflection lead you to think about the decisions that you made in life.  And, in that reflection may you move forward living the rest of your life doing what is morally right, despite having the free will to choose to do otherwise. Think about it as a matter of choosing God (good) or the devil (evil).   Which one will you choose?

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By Lynnette Clement