For freedom Christ has set us free. Galatians 5:1
“Free will” is a slippery term. The Bible never uses it, and people mean different things by it. If you want to talk about “free will,” always remember that the freedom we have is the freedom to follow the deepest desires of our own hearts. To put it simply, the freedom you have is the freedom to do what you most want to do.
Some years ago when the space program was at its height, Walter Chantry pointed out that when a rocket is launched, there is a mass of technology involved in guiding it to its destination. You have wires and electronic circuits, but all of them are connected to mission control.
If mission control is wired for evil, the will cannot make the rockets of life travel on the path of righteousness… Will may be the button which launches the spacecraft. But the launching button does not determine the direction.
What then determines the direction? Your heart—which functions as your mission control. Chantry concludes: “You are free to be yourself. The will cannot transform you into someone else.”
You cannot really reinvent yourself. You can change jobs, you can change where you live, or you can change your appearance—the color of your hair, your eyes, lose weight and get a new wardrobe—but you cannot change yourself.
Your mind is still your mind, your heart is still your heart, and your will is still your will. Can the leopard change its spots? No, only God can make you a new creation. Only God can save you.
Have you ever tried to reinvent yourself? What happened?
