Romans 9:6-13 (TPT)
6 Clearly, God has not failed to fulfill his promises to Israel, for that will never happen! But not everyone who has descended from Israel belongs to Israel. 7 Physical descent from Abraham doesn’t guarantee the inheritance, because God has said: “Through Isaac your descendants will be counted as part of your lineage.”
8 This confirms that it is not merely the natural offspring of Abraham who are considered the children of God; rather, the children born because of God’s promise are counted as descendants [children of the kingdom]. 9 For God promised Abraham: “In nine months from now your wife, Sarah, will have a son!”
God’s Freedom of Choice
10 Now, this son was our ancestor, Isaac, who, with his wife, Rebekah, conceived twins. 11–12 And before her twin sons were born, God spoke to Rebekah and said: “The oldest will serve the younger.”
God spoke these words before the sons had done anything good or bad, which proves that God calls people not on the basis of their good or bad works, but according to his divine purpose. 13 For in the words of Scripture: “Jacob I have chosen, but Esau I have rejected.”
We all want freedom of choice for our lives. Today, even in the midst of Covid 19 limitations, you will make many choices. Some of the choices you will make out of necessity, some out of habit, and some out of interest or desire. With every choice comes the responsibility of gaining wisdom and understanding about how each choice impacts our lives, as well as the lives around us. Our righteous choices, as well as our sinful choices affect others. We were created to seek God for salvation individually, as well as live to honor him as a whole; this is God’s divine purpose for the world.
Here’s something I believe people either forget or are completely ignorant to the truth of life with God. God has complete freedom of choice. God chose Abraham, gave him a promise to bless his descendants, and Abraham responded to God and chose to have faith in his Word. God chose himself as the standard of holiness and love for those who would choose to recognize and repent from sinning against God. God chose himself as the Savior and came into the world to pay the penalty of sin for those who would choose to be born of the promise and belong to God. God chose his Spirit and character to occupy his obedient children who would choose to live by faith in the promise and provision of God. You and I do not have any power to control these choices put into place by our Creator God; we do have the freedom of choice to respond with honor.
Prayer: Lord, I desire to honor your divine purpose in my life. Thank you for all you have done to provide me a life of blessing. In Jesus’ name. Amen.