Free Will

God created man in His image and He gave man free will to choose. In doing this He took a huge risk and paid a great price when He gave man free choice. That would mean man could choose not to love God and to disobey Him. That was exactly what Adam chose. Of all the trees in the Garden of Eden that God gave them freely to eat, they partook of the only tree that God told them not to eat from. Because of this choice, mankind fell into sin and lived in a fallen world. 

God had to send His Son to die for us to redeem us from the mess and the sin we were in. Yet He did not think that it was a waste. It was all worth it to Him. Sin in all its ugliness does not deter God's grace for when sin abounds, grace superabounds. The solution for sin had already been provided for through Jesus' perfect sacrifice at the cross. Do you know what stops His grace from being effective? Self-righteousness. When man is proud and presumes on his own strength to get things done, he will not fully appreciate the grace of God and what Christ had done for him. And God won't force His help on you if you don't see the need for Him.

It is only when man comes to the end of himself and realizes his need for a Savior, then grace becomes effective in his life. God's grace is unlimited and abundant in supply but one can frustrate the grace of God if he chooses to rely on works or flesh. That's why God is so against works or flesh because that is the law operating in stealth. Self-righteousness is so dangerous because it can nullify the grace of God. In Mark 8:15, Jesus told His disciples to take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Now leaven is a symbol of the righteousness of man. 

But you ask: isn't God's grace very powerful? Why can't His grace operate in a person's life if he is under the law? The answer lies therein the free will that God had given man. God cannot and will not override man's free choice. Man can only choose to be under law or under grace. There is no in-between. If man would yield himself to God's voice, the Holy Spirit will guide him in the daily affairs of his life. This man will be putting himself under God's favor. God will place him at the right place, right time for good success and also to protect him from dangers.

Beloved, it behooves us to take our eyes off ourselves and our performance for even our good works are like dung as Apostle Paul had described in Philippians 3:8. Instead let us put our eyes on Jesus, the Altogether Perfect One, for as He was accepted by the Father, so are we. 1 John 4:17 says 'as He is, so are we in this world'. When we trust in our flesh or in men, we will be disappointed but he who trusts in the Lord will never be disappointed.