This month, we’ve chosen scriptures that illustrate the free will that God has given us as humans to either believe or not believe in Him and His Son Jesus Christ.

Today’s scripture is actually more full-bodied than what we’ve put in today’s graphic. The full verse says, “Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?”

In fact, later in the chapter, God, through the prophet, pleads with Israel, saying, “Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.”

It sure seems like God is wasting His breath, here, if He never gave us the freedom to choose for ourselves.

Isn’t it wonderful to know that God isn’t up in heaven holding a scorecard and hoping for a chance to disqualify us from heaven? He takes no pleasure in anyone dying a spiritual death.

Read the whole chapter; it says it quite plainly: The state of our soul at the time of death is what determines where we spend eternity. The twists and turns that take place between birth and the grave don’t matter. Since we each don’t know our day of death, the time to get right with God is now. The choice is ours.

This article has undergone ministry review and approval.