We all choose the path our lives will take. In Genesis 1, it says that God created us in His image and after His likeness. That means, at least partly, that we have been given free will. So, as we go through life, we must decide how we want to live. We must also determine what we want to gain from this life and what kind of people we want to be.

So, what do you want?  Do you want to go to heaven, or do you want to spend eternity in hell?  It is up to you.  If going to heaven is what you want, you can make that happen because God, by His grace and mercy, has given you all the tools you need to get there.  Yes, you have made some mistakes, that is, you have sinned before God.  However, that does not have to stop you from going to heaven.  God has given you, me, and the rest of the world His Son as a propitiation for sins.  Now, what are you going to do with Jesus?

If you are not a Christian and you want to go to heaven, you must accept Jesus as the Lord of your life by obeying the gospel.  You, as Jesus once said, must believe and be baptized (Mark 16:16).  It is in baptism that your sins are forgiven (Acts 2:38).  God sacrificed His one and only Son so that you could be saved (John 3:16), but the rest is up to you.  So, what do you really want?  Do you want to go to heaven?  Remember, to choose not to go to heaven is to choose hell, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth and unquenchable fire, in other words, a place of misery and pain (Matthew 13:42; Mark 9:43).  So, what do you want?  Where do you want to spend eternity?  It is up to you.

What kind of citizen are you in the kingdom of God?  It all depends on what kind of citizen you want to be.  God has given you all the help you need.  He has blessed all of us with all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).  This means we can be as useful in the kingdom of God as we want to be.

Do you want to be a useful member of the church?  If so, then be one.  It is as simple as that.  Make up your mind to attend every service that your local church has.  Visit the shut-ins and send cards to the sick.  Use the talents that God has given you to help your local church and glorify God.  In the end, it is up to each one of us to determine how active we are going to be.  If you want to be a good citizen in the kingdom of God and be of service to the Lord, it is up to you.

What kind of spouse do you want to be?  Are you a husband who loves his wife as Christ loves the church (Ephesians 5:25)?  Are you a submissive wife (Ephesians 5:22)?  As a spouse, do you demonstrate the kind of patience, kindness, and other fruit of the Spirit toward your husband or wife that God expects?

Having a solid marriage that is pleasing to God and joyful to both spouses is not extremely difficult if the proper foundation is laid.  That foundation is built upon the word of God and applied because of a strong desire to put God first.  However, this desire does not just happen.  It must be the fixed purpose of a man to be a good husband consistently if he is to be what God wants him to be.  Is that the kind of husband you are?  Likewise, it takes a strong determination to be a loving wife who supports her husband in good and bad times alike.  Is that the kind of wife you are?  If you really want to be a good husband or a good wife, you do not have to rely on the circumstances of life or other outside forces to be one.  In the end, it is up to you.

I think you get the point of this article.  Some theological systems teach that we do not have the free will to determine what kind of people we are going to be, that is, not until God forces us to be a certain way by an outpouring of the Spirit that we cannot resist.  That is nonsense.  Remember, God created us in His image and after His likeness.  He has created us as rational beings who can decide what kind of people we are going to be.  Whether we are good parents, good employees, good spouses, good church members, good citizens in society, and in the kingdom, is up to us.  We can choose to be whatever we want to be because that is how God made us.

We can also choose to be unfaithful to God, uncommitted to our families, or undisciplined members of society.  We can be good or we can be bad; the only question is, what do we really want to be?  Apart from our Savior, Jesus Christ, we can do nothing (John 15:4-5), but even that, that is, abiding in Christ, is up to us.   So, in the end, what kind of person you are is really all up to you.