Daily Devotion

“While free will makes evil possible, it is also the only thing that makes possible any love, goodness, or joy worth having.”

CS Lewis · Painful Problems

Scripture

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live, and love the Lord your God, by obeying his voice, and by clinging to him.

Reflection

God has given us free will, a gift of love. Without the possibility of choice, love is no longer true love, but merely forced obedience. C.S. Lewis reminds me that it is precisely because freedom holds the potential for rebellion that love and kindness are all the more precious. God's call in Deuteronomy to "choose life" has taught me that faith is not passive but an active choice to love and obey God. My freedom should not be an indulgence, but an offering of love.