Gospel Reflections #275: The Gift of Freewill

Matthew 2:16 "Now Herod was greatly offended when he saw that he had been deceived by the astrologers. And he sent men to kill every boy under two years old in Bethlehem and the surrounding area, according to the time of year he had confirmed with the scholars."

Herod was greatly anxious about the coming of a Savior greater than himself. That anxiety made him kill the children.

We live our lives influenced by our emotions. As our emotions grow, we tend to make all decisions based on our emotions. The more that emotion is insecurity, fear, or jealousy and resentment, the more we end up making choices that go so far as killing someone or dying ourselves.

God has given us the "power of thought". It is "the power of thought that enables us to think about God. I think this is something that God provided for us when He gave us new life.

We use this power of thought when our minds seem to be filled with emotions. When we are feeling emotional, we use this power of thought to ask ourselves, "What would God think?

When we use our thinking power in this way, we can think about "What has God done for me?", "What am I like?", "What is God like for me?", and we can choose emotion or God in our thinking.

Even if we can't do good, even if we can't act, we are still making a choice in our thoughts.

The moment we choose God, we connect with God and the Holy Spirit works.

Herod has chosen his emotions. He has chosen his emotions (himself) to drown out his insecurities.

We want to discover and fill our thoughts with "what God is like" every day in order to increase God's percentage in our thoughts.

Thinking (thinking about God) is a freedom of choice, a looking up to God, a prayer, a conversation with God, a choice to connect with God. Thinking is a gift from God!

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This Gospel Reflections page is written by Masae San, a devoted student of the Bible who passionately embraces the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She shares her daily reflections on the Gospels as a way to reach out to others and spread the message of Jesus. We're sharing her message here so that you too can experience the joy that comes from the Gospel that has filled her heart.