BasicOne

Ecclesiastes 12:13 describes the conclusion of the author's search for the purpose of
life. After investigating, and experimentally embracing, different philosophies, he
said, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His
commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."

In the New Testament, Jesus said that the first two commandments were to love
God - the one true God - with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind,
and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. In these two
commandments, our mission -- our purpose -- is summed up.

Ephesians 2:10 also describes why God made us: "We are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand that we might
walk in them."

So: why are we here? To freely love God and other people, and to express that love
by doing good. The word "freely" in that sentence is important! Let's turn back to
Ecclesiastes 12 for a moment. After informing the reader about the duty of man, the
author says, "For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing,
whether it be good, or evil." This means that God will hold us accountable for our
actions. He treats us as free moral agents.

When I use the term "free moral agents," I don't mean that we're CIA agents or
spies. I mean that we have the ability to make responsible decisions about right and
wrong. Human beings are not completely free, and not all human beings experience
the same level of freedom. But as a norm, we are morally free to a degree that
makes it fair for God to hold each one of us accountable for his or her decisions.

This freedom gives meaning to our actions. Reading the words

"I love you" in a letter from someone you love means something.

That person chose to love you. But suppose you made a typewriter,

and used it to type "I love you" on a piece of paper, and then gave

yourself the paper. Would you conclude that your typewriter loves

you? Of course not -- because the typewriter is merely a machine; it is not a free
moral agent. It can only react; it cannot think or feel; it cannot decide to love you or
not to love you.

Human beings would be like that if we had no ability to choose between right and
wrong. We would not be accountable for our actions. And our actions would have
no depth. It would be impossible for us to freely love Him, and love one another.
Without the ability to choose something other than obedience to God, we would
essentially be puppets.

True freedom involves more than just the ability to make different choices. It
involves the ability to make different choices with different consequences.
Otherwise the "freedom" is a fake. Imagine going to a restaurant where the menu
listed all kinds of meals, but no matter what you ordered, the waiter always brought
you fried chicken. There's no meaningful difference between the ability to make
inconsequential choices and the inability to make any choices.

God gave us the freedom to make moral decisions that have consequences. In this
way, whether we surrender to God, or whether we rebel against Him, our decisions
will have consequences, and we will be held accountable for what we decide. Either
we try to become the people God wants us to be, or we don't. And either we try to
do what God wants us to do, or we don't. Generally speaking, God lets us live with
the consequences of our decisions -- even the bad ones. This is one reason why God
often allows moral evil to exist and to thrive where people let it thrive: it's a
consequence of decisions that people have made (if not in this generation, then in
earlier generations) and God wants all our moral decisions to be consequential, so
that when we make the decision to love Him, and when we make daily decisions to
express our love for Him through our obedience to Him, it will be a real decision, and
not a puppet-act.