Friday, April 12
All through Scripture, we are confronted with the reality of human free will. Even the unfallen Adam and Eve (Genesis 3) had free will, and they unfortunately made the wrong choice with it. If unfallen beings, in perfection, could misuse free will, how much more so beings like ourselves, steeped in sin?
And we need to remember that free will is just that, free, which means that, regardless of the pressure on us, both from within and without, we don’t have to choose what is wrong. We can, through the power of God in us, make the right choices with the free will God has given us. Thus, how important that we carefully weigh our decisions, especially thinking about how those decisions can impact our family lives. The free-will choice of Cain to kill his brother surely devastated his family. The free-will decision of Joseph’s brothers to sell him into slavery ruined their father’s life. “And he recognized it and said, ‘It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him.Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces’. Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and he said, ‘For I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning’. Thus his father wept for him” (Genesis 37:33-35, NKJV).
All through the Bible, as in life, we can find examples of how the free choices of family members, for good or evil, impact others, such as the choices of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Numbers 16:1-32; see also Daniel 6:23, 24; Genesis 18:19).
Discussion Questions:
What are some of the free choices you made today? What do they tell you about yourself and your relationship with God and with others? Of the choices you made, which ones, if any, do you wish you had made differently?
What Bible characters made wrong choices, and what can we learn from their mistakes? How did their wrong choices negatively impact their families?
No question: we all have regrets about wrong choices we have made. Why, in times of those regrets, is the gospel such good news? What promises from the Bible have you claimed in times of distress and guilt over wrong choices?
If some people were to come to you talking about marriage, what advice would you give them, and why? What principles can you point to from the Word of God to help them work through this important decision?
