If God knows exactly what the outcome is of every decision we make before we do, what is the point of our life? I know He gave us free will, but if He already knows what we are going to do before we do it, and already knows who will be saved and who won’t be, why are we even here ? Why didn’t God just skip this “earthly life” and go straight to “happily ever after”?
Some people incorrectly assume that God exercises control over our life, steering us toward choices He already knows we’re going to make. But that’s only true to the extent that we allow it. Unless we voluntarily turn our life over to Him, as Romans 12:2 advises us to do, He will stand aside while we make our own choices, whether for good or bad. He does this even though He has always known what the outcome of those choices will be. Knowing the end from the beginning is not the same as controlling it.
Believe me, if it was totally up to Him, things would come out a whole lot better. As one example of this, 2 Peter 3:9 tells us God doesn’t want any of us to perish but for all of us to come to repentance. But the fact is that many won’t come to repentance and will perish (2 Thes. 2:9-10).
Even though He already knows how our life will turn out, the fact that we will experience rewards or punishment based on our choices in life means that we’re responsible for making them. The point of our life is to make the right choices so we’ll be able to experience the rewards He has set aside for us. The first and most important choice is to believe that Jesus died for our sins and rose again. Second to that is choosing to yield our life to Him to do with as He pleases.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God–this is your true and proper worship (Romans 12:1)