Tag: free will

Israel’s Strength and Consolation

Genesis 1-3

January 1, 2025 – Day 1 of the 2025 Chronological Bible Reading Plan

In case we have forgotten, we serve the Almighty God who created the heavens and the earth. By His word alone, He spoke the universe into existence, forming the earth and filling it with life. From eternity to today, His hands continue to hold the world as a loving Father to humanity, created in His image—the climax of His creative acts. As part of this creation, it is a powerful reminder that we are not the owners but stewards in our Heavenly Father’s domain. Yet, we can draw from the strength and power present from the very beginning. The same power that called light into darkness, parted the Red Sea, called fire from heaven, and raised Jesus from the dead is also available to us. We simply need to stop wandering aimlessly in the garden, worrying about what we will eat next, and turn to Him.

Ultimately, it is God who gave us free will—the freedom to wander or to follow. This choice is most simply expressed in whether we choose to worship and honor Him or to worship and honor something else, including ourselves. There are countless opportunities to follow our own flawed prerogatives that lead to peril because choosing sin over God is inherent in our nature. Genesis 3 presents the moment of humanity’s fall—a moment that could have marked the end of hope. Yet even in judgment, God extends consolation. He seeks Adam and Eve in their hiding, clothes their shame with garments of grace, and promises a future Redeemer who will crush the serpent’s head. This promise is repeated time and again to Israel, God’s chosen people (Isa 9:7; Gen 49:10, Deut 18:18-19), and now to us, His new nation (Rom 11:17,18, 1 Peter 2:9,10). This act of mercy reveals God’s goodness—His justice tempered with overwhelming compassion.

In our own failings, we find consolation in knowing that God pursues us in the same manner. He offers to cover our shame with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. This has been God’s plan from the beginning—that we would be redeemed and restored from our falls. In Christ, we are made a new creation. Yes, there is judgment and the penalty of death, but there is also the far greater promise of eternal life. Ultimately, we have a sustaining consolation like no other. God has given His Holy Spirit to us—not only as our Comforter as we await the fulfillment of His promises but also as a source of strength. Through the Spirit, we are empowered to reflect the fruits of our Creator and Father.

-Aaron Winner

Reflection Questions

  1. What is revealed about God Almighty in the first 3 chapters of Genesis?
  2. Do you sometimes forget some of the things that Genesis teaches us about God?
  3. What is revealed about man and woman in the first 3 chapters of Genesis?
  4. Do you sometimes forget some of the things that Genesis teaches about man and woman?
  5. What hope do you find in the first 3 chapters of Genesis?

You can download and print the whole year’s Chronological Bible Reading Plan in a compact 1 page booklet form:

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Or download and print just one month at a time in an easier to read format:

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Who would you like to invite to be a Bible reading buddy with you in 2025?

Home Alone

Old Testament: Habakkuk 1-3

*Poetry: Psalm 139

New Testament: Matthew 25

Christmas is approaching, and today’s reading of Psalms 139 reminded me of the movie Home Alone.  I suspect most of you are familiar with the family who went on vacation and didn’t realize until they arrived at their vacation destination that they had left their very young son home alone.  This seems like a bit of a stretch; did they not consider why they had a leftover plane ticket?  Anyways, it was a fun movie and I know that probably all parents have forgotten about their kids when they were supposed to be responsible for them many times.  This is how crayon drawings happen on walls, unexpected haircuts happen, etc.  However, today we read that we are never alone, not for a second, literally.

God is always with us, whether you like it or not, ALL the time.  From your very beginning in your mother’s womb to this very minute, He has been with you the whole way.  He doesn’t ever sleep, and He isn’t just in the next room over in case you need some help; He is staring at you all day and night long.  I doubt He even blinks.  That is intense!  But that shows how invested He is in your life.  Moreover, He knows more about you than you know about yourself.  Give that a minute to sink in.  I know myself really well because I can hear all the thoughts in my mind, but He knows me more.  He knows my thoughts before I think them.  Whoa!

He is totally inside my head, but He still gives me the freedom to live the life I want, even when it is something He dislikes.  He allows me to go the wrong direction, but you’ve probably heard Him like I have, saying “don’t do that, that’s a bad idea.”  Can you imagine how He feels when we ignore Him and do what makes us feel good instead?  On the other hand, can you imagine how He feels when we listen to Him in those moments and do the right thing?

Let’s put ourselves in God’s shoes for a minute.  I know, basically impossible, but let’s try anyways.  Let’s imagine that you were as brilliant as God, and you used your talents to create a new girl or boy.  You also loved your new creation more than can be comprehended and you wanted to spend all your time with your new person every minute of every day for their whole life.  Does it seem creepy to love someone so much that you never want to leave them alone?  Maybe, but it also shows the incredible degree of love you have for them.

Now let’s look at some potential scenarios and see how you feel about them.  You love this person immensely and spend all day with them, but in the first scenario, they don’t ever even acknowledge you are there.  I would be devastated and extremely hurt.  How rude!  In the next scenario, they know you are there, but they rarely pay attention to you.  They could go hours or even days not saying a word to you.  Why are they ignoring me?  Do they not like me that much?  In the last scenario, they understand what you did for them and that you are there for them.  They stay in contact with you all throughout every day.  They appreciate what you do for them, and they love you as best as their human hearts allow.  That sounds like a great relationship that both people would feel great about.

God cares about you so much that He is always with you.  He nudges you along the way to keep you on the right path, but He lets you make the decisions in your life.  He invests so much in you because He loves you immensely and wants to have a personal relationship with you.  It is an understatement to say we are fortunate to have someone so knowledgeable, powerful, and loving on our side and so involved in our lives.

Reflection Questions:

Do you realize how important you are to God?  Have you thanked Him for that lately?

There is a lot to be upset and anxious about in today’s world.  Does it make it easier when you stop to consider that God is with you to the end through all the difficult times?

How long do you typically ignore that there is someone (God) with you each day?  Do you acknowledge Him throughout the day, or do you get to the end of the day, and say, “Oh, Hi God, I forgot you were there.  Sorry I didn’t have time to talk today”?

-Rick McClain

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Paradise

Old Testament: Ezekiel 37 & 38

Poetry: Psalm 107

New Testament: Revelation 22

     Revelation 22 begins with a few more verses describing New Jerusalem, a topic which began in chapter 21. It is full of life. I go back and forth on how to visualize this from the details we have. The city is described with one street, paved in gold like glass. The street leads to the throne of God and Christ – it is the most important destination. Perhaps the street spirals up to them, and the clarity of the gold helps the light from the throne reach everywhere. The river of the water of life passes down the center of the street, and the tree of life is on either side (v. 2). So perhaps the water goes through a tunnel carved in the thick trunk of the tree of life, which has grown quite large since being transplanted from the Garden of Eden. The design does not concern me greatly, the key is the offer of life and blessings. This is a place of contentment and worship – it has no temple because it needs none, all within it are constantly in the presence of God and Christ, bathed in their glory.

     Rather than design, I am interested in the idea that things have, at last, moved beyond the stage where God considers them “very good” (Genesis 1:31). After each of the first five days of creation God declared the work “good”; after day six it was “very good” – notably with the addition of humans. It may be that things didn’t remain at “very good” for long before they slid into distress and pain due to the addition of sin, but that isn’t the point in this chapter. God has restored matters. The curse is gone! But I think God more than restored things and passed “very good” to “perfect.” I suspect the needed element for that to take place involves free will – God would not force Adam and Eve to love and accept Him, it was to be our choice if we would seek companionship with Him.

     Well, talking about this sort of thing with God can wait, and by the time we enter those kinds of conversations with God we will be better equipped to do so. For now, we know the challenges we face, and the Spirit we have been entrusted with to face them. Let us continue toward the paradise God has planned for us.

     The Greek word for “paradise,” by the way (Luke 23:43; Revelation 2:7), from which we get our English word “paradise,” comes from a Persian word for a pleasure garden. It seems like we are striving to get back to a garden, where we could eat from the tree of life and perhaps even walk with God.

     With understanding and acceptance of each other.

     Loving and loved.

     Forever.

     These are goals worth having.

     Lord, the book says a blessing is on those who read and hear the words of this prophecy and heed the things written in it, for the time is near. Help us be attentive to these words, and all that you direct for our lives. Thank you for the gift of your words. Do not let us be drawn astray from you, your message, or your work. You are a gracious God. In Jesus’ name I pray to you, Amen.

-Daniel Smead

Reflection Questions

  1. We are repeatedly told there will be no night in the time of the New Jerusalem – what do you associate with night that you will be pleased to have end?
  2. How do you find the curse affecting your life this week? How is knowing Jesus, and believers, helping you to deal with the curse now?
  3. Looking back over Revelation, what directions stand out to you for your life? How is it going? Do you think you should call on someone to help you be accountable for what you feel called to do?
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More Opportunities

For God’s Children To Have a Relationship with Him

Isaiah 43-44 and 1 Timothy 3

When you read through Isaiah 43 and 44, what do you see?

I see a God who loves His people, whom He has chosen.  I see a God who shows mercy and patience.  I see a protective God.  I see a jealous God.  I see a God full of power and authority.  I see a world full of broken and lost people.  I also see a Father whose children have ignored Him.  I see a Father who knows there are unrighteous people in the world trying to pull His children off the path of righteousness.  I see a Father longing for a way to have relationships with His children.  I see children who do not understand what they are missing.

All of the great qualities we observe in or read about our God can seem far away when looking at the Old Testament and reading that He set His chosen people aside for destruction and abuse, or when we see large groups of people destroyed, or when the barbaric sacrifices of animals somehow allow for the forgiveness of sins.  I feel at times that the God of the New Testament seems to be much more loving and gracious than the God of the Old Testament.  And yet, since creation, God has had a plan for redemption not just for His chosen people, but for all who called upon His name.  The whole thing can be a bit confusing if I am being honest!  I have to remind myself that God has never changed, He has simply created more opportunities for His children to have a relationship with Him.

The Christian faith is one of just that, faith.  We can scientifically prove many of the events that have happened in the Bible did in fact happen.  However, the idea that an omnipotent God who has created everything in existence chose to create a group of imperfect beings to be made in His image with the purpose of praise, but then those imperfect beings were given free will and ruined it so He had to send them away but He still made a way for them to come back to Him but it still didn’t make them perfect enough so He sent a perfect being as a sacrifice for all the imperfect beings but then the perfect being came back to life to offer hope to the imperfect but the imperfect ones kept making the creation less perfect so one day the perfect one has to come back and fix the imperfect forever so that the omniscient one can live with the imperfect ones who will now be made perfect……Let’s be honest, it doesn’t make sense.  God’s grace requires faith to accept! 

1 Timothy 3:15 – 16 says “…This is the church of the living God, which is the pillar and foundation of the truth.  Without questions, this is the great mystery of our faith: Christ was revealed in a human body and vindicated by the Spirit.  He was seen by angels and announced to the nations.  He was believed in throughout the world and taken into heaven in glory.”  

Our God is a living God.  He has been at work in the nations from day one, and He has had a plan for us to all live in relationship with Him from the start.  Why?  I have no clue.  But faith allows me to know that this is true, and our hope through Jesus Christ allows me to live each day knowing that I have an incredible gift of grace that should be used to praise and glorify the One True God.  Do you accept the completely confusing idea of God’s grace? How do you show that daily? 

(In case you were wondering, I definitely plan on asking God why He gave us free will in the Kingdom…along with many other questions 😊)

-Sarah Johnson

Today’s Bible reading plan passages can be read or listened to at BibleGateway.com here – Isaiah 43-44 and 1 Timothy 3

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Freewill and our Battles

Psalm 81-82 (and Job 33-34)

It’s no secret that life can be difficult, and we are always tempted to do things to our liking and understanding. Everyone has their own image set out in front of them, of what THEY think their life should look like. But God has a different image of our lives. Sure, it may be close to our perfect life, but God’s will and our will hold different opportunities, even if they are similar. 

Psalms 81-82 are called, The Call to Obedience, and a Plea for Righteous Judgement. (NLT)

Psalms 81:6-12

“I relieved his shoulder from the burden; His hands were freed from carrying the basket. You called out in distress, and I rescued you; I answered you from the thundercloud. I tested you at the Waters of Meribah.

Listen my people and I will admonish you. Israel, if you would only listen to me! There must not be a strange god among you; you must not bow down to a foreign god. I am the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. 

“But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel did not obey me. So, I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own plans.

The people of Israel back in this time had chosen with their own free will to go against God’s commands and do what they desired at the time. This led to their pain and suffering that God would again bring them through as a lesson of his love and power. The truth is that his plan is all knowing, created with love and perfection. He knows every part of us from the hairs on our head to the tiny wrinkles of our skin. He knows who we are meant to be, even before we are born, but he lets us choose our own path. 

The purpose of this devotional is not to tell you that every path is going to be easy. The purpose is to show you that life is going to be hard, there are going to be valleys of trial and consequence, there will be mistakes. All those things are why free will exists. God gives us free will because he wants us to learn from our past and push for what he knows we are capable of. Because “People make choices and those choices have consequences, and if knowing my will were part of every human decision how would anything happen?” (From the movie, An Interview with God) This quote, and scripture are pointing out that to really reach our full potential we must go through rights and wrongs. We must make the decisions without knowing the result because those choices will bring us to our full potential. 

God says, “I gave them over to their STUBBORN HEARTS to follow THEIR OWN PLANS.” Our Father wants us to choose his way for us in our lives, but he will not force us to. This also does not mean he doesn’t care when we choose our own way. This simply means that he is going to watch and let you learn from your mistakes. He is going to let you fall because then he can pick you up and you will learn from the mistakes after. Learning from our mistakes are some of the greatest parts of our journey. They are the things that make us who we are, and who God intended us to be. 

-Hannah Eldred

Today’s Bible reading passages can be read or listened to at BibleGateway here – Job 33-34 and Psalm 81-82

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Freedom

2 Chronicles  7-8

Today we celebrate the many freedoms that we have in our country. We are so blessed to live in a country that allows us to worship God and so freely profess our belief in Christ. The scriptures explain that through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free. We are also free from the law of sin and death. (Rom. 8)

From the beginning, God has given human beings freedom in the form of free will. He allows us to choose. We can choose to follow Him and His Son or we can reject them because we want to go our own way. It is so clear to see this choice when it is placed before the people in the scriptures. Their own evil desires will result in sin and death or they can follow God as He leads them and others to life. Life that is described as abundant and everlasting.

Solomon had been making some great choices for God. He was honoring Him. God’s temple was being dedicated and Solomon was using his influence for good. As always when people draw near to God, He draws near to them. God assures them that He is there with fire from heaven and His glory filling the temple. The people praise the LORD by saying, “He is good; His love endures forever.” After this the LORD even appears to Solomon. God presents a choice that Solomon has to personally make. Solomon can walk before the LORD faithfully following everything that God commanded or reject God by doing his own thing.

Unfortunately, as Solomon’s life unfolds, he begins breaking the laws that he was given. One by one he breaks the few laws that he was asked to follow as the king. He continues following some of God’s laws while ignoring others. His heart was led astray, just as the LORD told him it would be.

Solomon had wealth, fame, power, and wisdom, but none of that mattered because he allowed people and things to replace his love for God. Let’s examine our own hearts today and freely give them completely to our God. We know that “He is good; His love endures forever.”

-Rebecca Dauksas

Today’s Bible reading passages can be read or listened to at BibleGateway here – 2 Chronicles 7-8 and Romans 3

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Plans

FREE THEME WEEK

Jer 29 11

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11

I find that this verse above is often misinterpreted in a way that says that every step that we take has been planned out by God, but this interpretation does not recognize the free will that God has gifted us.

 

God has this beautiful plan for our lives.  He wants to see us succeed and no harm to come upon us and He wants to give us hope and a future.  Part of that future and the hope that we can cling to is entering His perfect Kingdom and living with Him forever.  However, God gives us the free will to choose how we are going to live our lives.

 

I think sometimes we can get so caught up in what exactly God wants for us to do with our lives, but ultimately He wants to see us making wise choices towards His coming Kingdom.  Outside of accepting Christ, there is no one right path for your life. We all need to be living our lives for Him and making those choices that are going to help us grow closer to Him.

 

Within our everyday lives between school, our families, and our jobs that we are not taking the time that we need to search for God’s wisdom to make our decisions so that we can prosper the way that he wants us to prosper.  We can become so focused on our fears, anxieties, and stress that we are not giving God the time or energy that he deserves. Instead we are putting it into these things that we should not be wasting our energy on. When you really let go and let God lead your life there is so much comfort and peace that can be felt.

Katie-Beth Fletcher

(This week we have a free theme week and we look forward to hearing from various writers during the week.  If you would like to write for one day we still happen to have some days available, please contact the editors at Grow16BR@gmail.com for more information.)

Don’t be Mutton

John 10

John 10 14

In John chapter 10, we find Jesus telling a story about shepherds and sheep.  A person who is hired to protect the sheep will run away when his own life is in danger (like when a wolf comes), and abandons the sheep.  The true shepherd will put his life in harm’s way to defend his sheep.  Then we find this gem in verses 14 through 18:

14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

I see a couple of things in these verses that I’d like to comment on.

We all know that we are his sheep, and that Jesus laid down his life for his sheep.  We may be less focused on Jesus’ comment that he has other sheep not of this sheep pen that will listen to his voice and be part of the same flock.  In Jesus’ day, he was talking with the Jews, who thought they were the exclusive people who could have a relationship with God.  Jesus was pointing out that non-Jews would also come to God through Jesus.

Then we see this phrase in verse 17 that says God loves Jesus because Jesus is going to lay down his life.  I believe Jesus was saying that it was his decision whether or not to completely obey God.  He had the authority to obey, and lose his life.  He also had the authority to disobey, and retain his life.  My interpretation for all of this is:  Jesus had complete free will to do whatever he chose to do, just like we have free will.  It’s just that Jesus always chose to do God’s will.  This is exemplified in Jesus’ willingness to follow God’s will, no matter what, even to the point of suffering and dying.  And God loves that fact about Jesus.  (As an aside, this attribute of Jesus is undoubtedly why God said, “This is my son in whom I am well pleased, listen to him.”)

You might be thinking, “This is a nice story, but how does it apply to me?”

I’m glad you asked.

First, I want God to be pleased with me.  And I project from this story that if I am obedient to God like Jesus was obedient to God, I will please God.  So, I’d like to challenge you to be completely obedient to God as well.

Second, I might tend to think, like the Jews, that I, or my church, or my denomination have an exclusive relationship with God.  I need to remember that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, not me, and he (not me) gets to decide who are and who are not his sheep.

Finally, we see from this passage that Jesus knows his sheep, and his sheep know him.  Wolves are prowling around outside the sheep pen.  If you’re not in the protection of the pen, being protected by the Shepherd, you’re going to be mutton.  So if you don’t know Jesus, there’s no time like today.

-Steve Mattison

A Good Conscience

1 Timothy 1 5 (bike)

Back again to 1 Timothy 1:5…it also states that we must have a good conscience, but what is that? In Hebrews 13:18 it says that the people are desiring to conduct themselves honorably in all things. The word desire is very specific in this verse, desire means a want or a wish, this shows since they wish to do it, there can be another option. We have to choose God, he gave us free will to do so. If he had wanted people who worshiped him because there was no other option he could have made that happen, but he wanted us. People who could have a choice and still choose him. But sometimes we do mess up, but we have a second chance, and a third chance, and fourth, and on and on again. In 1 John 1:9 it says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us. God gave us a choice, and even when we mess up, he gives us a way out. A good conscience is the desire to do God’s will, and when we mess up ask for forgiveness and repent.

-Blair Simon

Check Your Seed

 

Proverbs 19

prov 19 3

Wednesday

A person’s own folly (foolishness) leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the Lord. Proverbs 19:3

When I was in college I remember sitting by a young lady who just loved Professional Wrestling. You know the form of athletic performance art with theatrical events and lots of shouting, not the sport of wrestling.  She could tell you in great detail about the striking attacks, holds, throws and acrobatic maneuvers that she had witnessed while attending the recent matches. One day while she was telling me about what had happened last night during the wrestling match we received our graded science papers.  That is when I saw her completely change.  She had received a failing grade and she was furious. She became so angry at the teacher.  She said things about him under her breath and in her mind he could do “nothing right” during that semester. Her reaction is still vivid in my mind.  She began hating this professor because he had given her a grade that indicated her level of knowledge on the material. She completely removed herself from the equation. She put all the blame on the professor, but did not see that her lack of interest and absence from study was the cause of her grade.

Today we are exploring Proverbs 19.  Verse 3 reminds us that oftentimes we are the ones deciding how our lives will go.  God has created the world with governing principles and laws that manage the earth. Human beings are given free will so there is cause and effect from our actions. We might think of it as sowing and reaping. As Galatians teaches us, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” (6:7) Rewards or negative consequences are the result of our actions.  I think this statement says it best: If you don’t like the harvest you are reaping, check the seed you are sowing.

There are repercussions of our actions, but we want God to rescue us from the pain and consequences of our bad decisions. Many times we must experience the real pain to move us to the point where we desire to make lasting change.

Now there are many troubles that we will encounter in this fallen world and many of them we have no control over, but the advice of Proverbs is addressing the areas of our life that we can control. God is on our side and He wants us to make the best decisions. He provides correction through the scripture and if we want to be wise (and avoid a lot of pain and drama) we should follow it. Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise (verse 20).

By Rebecca Dauksas