Psalm 108:3
By making us in His image, God gave us capacities not given to other forms of life.
Ideally, He made us to know Him, to love Him, and to obey Him. He did not put rings in our noses that He might pull us around like oxen...
No, He gave us freedom to make choices. By His grace we are equipped to understand His plan because we have a mind with which we can know Him.
We are also free to love and adore Him because we have emotions. He takes pleasure in our affection and devotion.
We can obey His instructions but we are not pawns on a global chessboard. It is in the voluntary spontaneity of our response that He finds divine pleasure.
When His people freely respond in worship and praise, obedience and adoration, God is glorified to the maximum.
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Excerpted from Charles R. Swindoll, Wisdom for the Way(Nashville: J. Countryman, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2001).Copyright © 2001 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.