God gave us free will. But he also has a will for our lives.
How can we have free will if God already knows what’s going to happen?
How can we possibly have free will?
Good question.
I’ll attempt to answer it based on my view of who God is and what he does.
As far as I am concerned, God is name most give to the entity that created all we can possibly experience, namely the universe we are a part of.
I also call this creative force God.
God created everything, including human beings. This creation is akin to a father and mother creating a child.
And parents love to see their children learn to do things on their own. We love to see a child say “mama” or “dada” for the first time. When the child does this, he or she is creating their first words.
To see something that you created start the creative process itself is exhilarating.
Being the ultimate creator and parent, God had a desire to see his creations create, too. The best way to do that is to give those creations the ability to make whatever choice they want.
Studies have shown that when children are allowed to select the activities they wish to pursue, they pursue them with more enthusiasm and are more successful at them than if they are forced into activities they would not have chosen otherwise.
Granted, we do not always use this power to our advantage, nor do we always choose that which God knows is best for us.
Which brings us to God’s will.
God’s will is for everyone to act, speak and think out of love all the time. That’s the most important commandments in the Bible, love and honor God and love each other as yourself. All else flows form that.
The more we think, act and speak out of love, the closer we feel to God as well as each other.
However, God does not impose his will on us. If he did, this world would not be in the shape it’s in right now. God could just snap his fingers, and everyone would love one another and that would be an immediate end to all wars, hunger and homelessness.
But he won’t do that. God won’t make us love him.
You can’t do that here on Earth either. Try making someone love you. You can force them to do or say certain things. But you can’t make them have certain thoughts or feelings toward you.
I dare you to say this to someone: “I command you to have great feelings of love toward me.”
God doesn’t say this either.
No, God loves us so much that he allows us to choose whether to love him or not. Because he knows that when we choose to pursue the desires of our heart, we pursue them with great enthusiasm.
Free will is one of the greatest gifts God gave us. Without it, we would not be able to freely choose to come to him, which is his will.
