God is sovereign, meaning He is in control over all things and His will is ultimately accomplished. At the same time, God created us to have free will, allowing us to make real choices that influence our lives and the world around us. Our free will is constrained by our sinful nature, making us prone to choose sin. Yet through Christ, we are set free to live as God intended. The interaction between God's sovereignty and our free will, especially regarding salvation, remains a mystery of faith. Rather than attempt to sort out every detail and reconcile the two in our limited human capacity, believers can respond with gratitude to God both for the ability He gave us to choose and for His sovereign control over all things. He made the way for us to be free from sin and alive to Him. He is fully trustworthy, and we can thus rest in Him as well as respond to His truth with intentionality. As we respond to salvation and live our lives, we are called to recognize both God's sovereign control and our responsibility to choose Him and to follow His ways.
Our choices carry weight, and we must take them seriously, recognizing that each decision we make has consequences. Just as Adam and Eve’s choice to disobey God in the garden of Eden brought sin and death into the world, our own choices can lead to outcomes that impact our lives and the lives of others. We cannot blame anyone else for the decisions we make, as God has given us the freedom to choose. However, in our fallen nature, we are often drawn toward sin, unable to fully break free on our own. The greatest choice we can make is to follow Christ, who offers freedom from the bondage of sin through His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection. By trusting in Him, we are made alive and set free to live as God intended, no longer slaves to sin but slaves to righteousness. This is great news! Without God’s sovereignty and goodness, we would be left with the consequences of our sin, without hope. But because God so loves us, He made the way for us to be forgiven of our sins and alive to Him. While we continue to sin on this side of eternity and while sin still has consequences, we are freed from the bondage of continuing in sin. Instead, God promises that He will work everything for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Ultimately, while God’s will is accomplished, and He is in control over all things, the responsibility of choosing to follow Him lies with us. This decision leads to the promise of eternal life with Him and the ability to experience the joy of living life according to His ways.