Ezekiel 36: 24-32
24 " 'For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and make it plentiful and will not bring famine upon you. 30 I will increase the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field, so that you will no longer suffer disgrace among the nations because of famine. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable practices. 32 I want you to know that I am not doing this for your sake, declares the Sovereign LORD. Be ashamed and disgraced for your conduct, O house of Israel!
I believe there its Human nature to want to be partners with God. Many faiths are works based , that is to mean that these faiths believe that Eternal life and Gods pleasure with mankind depends on a cooperative effort between man and God. Once this " truth " of cooperation is accepted ....mankind then goes so far as to put themselves first...some claim that God needs to see evidence of our good works before He will claim us , some feel that money can purchase their salvation...and others simply say " I asked Jesus into my heart " " I was saved " " I brought my neighbor to Christ ".
While I firmly believe that God will forgive this human behavior and that for the most part it is spiritually benign , it does give us pause. We need to continually remind ourselves that our hope is based on Jesus Christ ...not on us ...not on our neighbors ... not on our pastors or leaders , our hope is in the Sovereign Lord , maker of heaven and earth. At some point most Christians will agree that God is Sovereign , at least within the " box" we allow ourselves to build around God.
What we will never know as believers is just how God works through us as we exalt our free will above His.
consider this Butterfly...it can feed when it wants ...it can move from bloom to bloom , if it senses my presence it can choose to leave or stay...this butterfly has the free will of a ....Butterfly...If this butterfly could imagine the workings of my Ford Focus it could not choose to drive it .
My free will is far more complicated or at least I like to think so ...but I cannot will myself to fly ...and just as I cannot escape my free will to fly I have a Sinners Free will and I cannot choose God or the things of God without God first changing my will....and Praise God once He chooses to change my Free will ...He also promises to complete that good work and bring me into His home to live eternally with Him.
