There is always a reason for the choices we make in life (such as why you are reading this book). As a general rule, we make decisions based on what “seems good” to us at the time, considering all the alternatives / options available.
Our choices come from a deep desire within, while other things simply happen without much thought (there is a desire within us to make a choice or we wouldn’t make it).
We choose according to our desires – this is the essence of freewill.
Jonathan Edwards, in his work The Freedom of the Will, defines the will as “that by which the mind chooses.” He further stated;
When the idea of freedom is added, however, the issue becomes terribly complicated. We have to ask, freedom to do what? Even the most ardent Calvinist would not deny that the will is free to choose whatever it desires. Even the most ardent Arminian would agree that the will is not free to choose what it does not desire.
With regard to salvation, the question then becomes, what do human beings desire? The Arminian believes that some desire to repent and be saved. Others desire to flee from God and thus reap eternal damnation.
Why different people have different desires is never made clear by the Arminian. The Calvinist holds that all human beings desire to flee from God unless and until the Holy Spirit performs a work of regeneration. That regeneration changes our desires so that we will freely repent and be saved.”
“It is important to note that even the unregenerate are never forced against their will. Their wills are changed without their permission, but they are always free to choose as they will. Thus we are indeed free to do as we will. We are not free, however, to choose or select our nature. One cannot simply declare, “Henceforth I will desire only the good” anymore than Christ could have declared, “Henceforth I will desire only evil.” This is where our freedom stops.
The Fall left the human will intact insofar as we still have the faculty of choosing. Our minds have been darkened by sin and our desires bound by wicked impulses. But we can still think, choose, and act. Yet something terrible has happened to us. We have lost all desire for God. The thoughts and desires of our heart are only evil continuously. The freedom of our will is a curse. Because we can still choose according to our desires, we choose to sin and thus we become accountable to the judgment of God.”
Augustine also rightly stated that while still have free will, we have lost our liberty.
“The royal liberty of which the Bible speaks is the freedom or power to choose Christ as our own. But until our heart is changed by the Holy Spirit, we have no desire for Christ. Without that desire we never will choose Him. God must awaken our soul and give us a desire for Christ before we will ever be inclined to choose Him.”
Every choice we make is influenced by something (either a reason or a desire). As a result, there is no space for those who teach “determinism”, which claims that our actions are completely controlled, robotic and dictated by someone outside of us.
Our choices are influenced by something within (what we are and what we desire).
Therefore, in order for anyone to ultimately “choose” Christ, God must change their hearts, and that is exactly what He does. By changing our hearts, God gives us a desire for Him that we otherwise wouldn’t have. It is the grace of God that a person who once lived in rebellion can now live in wholehearted submission to the Savior.
