I’m a little weary of all the “God gave me free will” arguments.  It is often used by non-believers to justify their self-rule.  Shoot, it’s used by believers as well!

“God gave me free will and I’m going to use it!”  Well, good for you!  He expects you to use what was given you.

But don’t get free will confused with free rule.  Having a will to choose in this world doesn’t mean you have freedom to rule this world.   You have freedom to weigh options (or not even consider them), to be self-disciplined or irresponsible, to choose one thing or choose another. Free will is not unrestrained behaviors and choices and no fear of consequences (although you may be persuaded by potential consequences).  Free will means you have been given a will (the ability to choose) and you are free to use it.

But having free will doesn’t mean you are sovereign.

Sovereignty means there is no higher court.  There is no where else to try and make your choices everyone else’s priority.  It is the final answer to the results of how you used the will given to you.

Free will is not sovereignty.  Free will is your incredible ability to choose.  Sovereignty is the absolute duty to rule.  Your free will is acted out in the midst of sovereignty.  I am free and can use my freedom to kill someone.  The sovereign rulers of my country will force the consequences upon me and my freedom will be seriously restricted.

Does this mean I don’t have free will?  Not at all.  Some think that free will entitles you to do whatever you want without consequences.  That kind of freedom is established by legal means and has nothing to do with your innate ability to choose.   If I choose to murder, my freedoms can be stripped from me, but I still have free will.  In prison, I can break the rules or abide by them . . . an act of free will.  If I break them and am punished, that doesn’t mean I didn’t have free will . . . it just means there is not a legal system to justify every choice I make.  Free will is independent of law and expectation, although we can use it to abide to law and expectation.  Or not.  That’s the beauty of it.

So when people say to me, “I have free will!”, my answer is, “Of course you do!  What are your plans for it?”

Ironically, we cease exerting our free will when things begin to crumble.  We scrap our free will and blame God.  We accuse Him of a wicked use of sovereignty and demand that He change His ways and clean things up.  What we fail to realize that His gift of free will was a sovereign decision.  In His sovereignty He gave the earth to mankind (Psalm 115.16).  If things are going wrong in a land He has given us it is not because He is not sovereign.  It’s because we’ve exerted our free will foolishly.  We want control . . . and He gives it.  But we are so finicky.  We want control as long as things go our way and follow our opinions.  When they don’t, we fault the One who gave us free will in the first place.

Feel free to debate the existance of a sovereign God.  But don’t be deceived into thinking that because you have free will, you have free rule.