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Written by C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), a British writer, literary scholar, and lay theologian.  This is an excerpt from his book “Mere Christianity.”

God created things which had free will. That means creatures which can go either wrong or right. Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong; I cannot. If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of automata—of creatures that worked like machines—would hardly be worth creating. The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and a woman on this earth is mere milk and water. And for that they must be free .. . . If God thinks this state of war in the universe a price worth paying for free will—that is, for making a live world in which creatures can do real good or harm and something of real importance can happen, instead of a toy world which only moves when He pulls the strings—then we may take it it is worth paying.

Prayer:

Written by Emily Van Dixhoorn, a contemporary theologian and author.

 Please teach me to use well the freedom you have graciously given to me by faith in Christ Jesus and most of all to honor your Son Jesus Christ and you in him. For one day I know we will see clearly that every choice made in obedience to Christ was right and will be magnificently rewarded. Amid my decisions, both good and bad, please help me to always rejoice in the grace of Christ and the irresistible work of your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name, Amen.