Free Will.

Joshua 24:15
15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

I want to spend a little bit of time talking about the free will that we have. Not only do we have the freedoms to practice this religion, but God gives us the opportunity to have some freedom. Of course, some of this freedom can hurt us in the end, but God wants us to learn from our mistakes. It's never too late to start over either.

Can you imagine being FORCED to believe in God? I know it wouldn't work for me. I need to see for myself what the purpose of something is. If I'm forced to go to church, which I'm not, then I would see church on a whole new level. I wouldn't appreciate going there. Instead, I watched my parents go to church and be the role models they should be. They showed me what it was like to go to church and have God in my life without shoving it down my throat. I followed suit and sooner or later I enjoyed being a Christian.

Now let's switch gears and look at the biblical standpoint of this. God did so much for the Israelites, but they had to make a very important choice. They could worship other Gods, they could follow the religion of the new land they had entered, or they could even follow the God that brought them out of slavery. Joshua knew exactly which choice was ideal for him and his family. However, some of the Israelites used the most of their free will to worship other Gods.

Be careful with free will. We can make our decisions, for example, but try your best to make decisions for the grace of the one and only God. Happy free choices!