Free Will Necessary For God’s Will To Shine

“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.” Deuteronomy 30:19

You may not remember this 2007 story that made headlines across the country. A Nebraska state senator was suing God, seeking a permanent injunction against Him for making terroristic threats, inspiring fear and causing “widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth’s inhabitants”.

Hard to believe, but true! Ernie Chambers, a self-proclaimed agnostic who frequently criticizes Christians, said his suit was triggered by a federal lawsuit he considered frivolous. The legislator claimed God can be sued in his county because He is everywhere.

The story gets even better because just a few weeks later, God answered the suit. That’s right, God! A clerk in Omaha confirmed with the Associated Press that one of two court filings from God miraculously appeared. “It just all of the sudden was here – poof!” the clerk said.

The response argued that the defendant (God) was immune from the suit and that the courts lacked jurisdiction. But more importantly, it argued that God can’t be held responsible for the offenses that man commits. “I created man and woman with free will,” the response says, “and next to the promise of immortal life, free will is my greatest gift to you.”

God is right. While we often blame Him for many of the problems that come our way, they are more often than not the result of poor choices that we or others make. In short, we have no one to blame but ourselves for most of the trouble we confront in life.

Dante’s The Divine Comedy had this to say about free will: “The greatest gift which God in his bounty bestowed in creating humans, and the most conformed to his own goodness, and that which he prizes the most, was the freedom of the will.” I couldn’t agree more. God in his infinite love created us in his image, endowed us with gifts that separate us from animals, and gave us the ability to choose – even if the choices don’t include Him. Now that’s love!

Just this week, I had a young lady come to my office to ask me if it was okay to have her child christened. Neither she nor her husband attends church. In fact, they are both avowed agnostics. While I didn’t share why, I advised her not to pursue it (because doing so would be hypocritical and an offense to God). But I did realize that she was experiencing some sense of conviction about the spiritual development of her child and took advantage of the opportunity to suggest the obvious. “If you don’t expose your child to Christianity by taking him to church,” I told her, “I know the decision he will make about God.”

It’s important to understand just how unconditional God’s love for us really is. He gives us the right to decide whether we believe what He says. It’s that right to make the choice that enables our relationship with him to flourish.

The prophet Isaiah once wrote, “All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned, every one, to his own way. And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6) Jesus died for the wrong choices we made and will continue to make in our lives. But at the end of the day, the One standing to judge us will not remember them because of the one right choice we made.