Do Broader Steps Bring Happiness?

Aleksi Päkkilä | The Voice of Zion June/July 2025 - Round the Table Article --

Aleksi Päkkilä serves as a parish pastor in the Nivala congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, the national church of Finland.

On Sunday, before services, a message pops into the friend group’s WhatsApp chat suggesting we go play something together or head straight to someone’s house for haps. Once again, the services would be skipped, which gives me pause. Deep inside, the thought stirs a conflict. Why is making choices so hard? How can a person know what is right or wrong in each situation? And what does it even matter?

The Lasting Consequence of the First Choice

In the beginning, things were different. In paradise, the first human pair didn’t need to wonder where the line between right and wrong lay—God had clearly expressed it. Still, in the form of a serpent, the enemy of souls cleverly cast doubt on God’s Word: “Did God really say?” (Gen. 3:1, NIV). The discussion that followed this question led to the fall into sin. With that fall came inherited, original sin, and along with it, the human understanding of right and wrong became permanently blurred.

Yet God did not abandon the human race He had created. He gave them the promise that the power of the enemy of souls – the father of falsehoods and lies – would be defeated. Old Testament believers sometimes forgot this promise, and their lives began to drift away from God. So God had to remind His people of His will by writing the Ten Commandments with His own finger on two tablets of stone.

Later, God sent His Son to fulfill the promise He had made in paradise. Although Jesus fulfilled the law on behalf of humankind, even those who believe in Him still bear the consequences of that first wrong choice. Because of corrupted human nature, it is not always easy for anyone to accept God’s will. That’s why we need the guidance of God’s Word in our decision-making. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16).

Acceptance or Understanding?

It’s natural for people to reflect on their own choices by comparing them with others’. Sometimes it may be hard to explain to yourself or to others why you chose a certain path, yet there may be a deep inner certainty that it is right – it may be that no further reasoning is needed. At other times, there may be great uncertainty, and that’s when it’s helpful to talk things over with fellow believers. But what if someone you thought believed just like you sees the matter differently?

That’s when open conversation becomes even more important. We can trust that alongside God’s Word, the Holy Spirit also guides us when believers seek answers together. Respecting others and understanding their differing life circumstances is never wrong – but we shouldn’t support views that go against God’s Word, since God’s will does not change.

For this reason, it’s one thing to seek God’s will in temporal or modern matters that weren’t known at the time of the Bible’s writing. It’s another thing to question a clear teaching of God’s Word—such as lifelong marriage, a sober way of life, or the kinds of words one should use. Grace or Christian freedom does not mean that anything goes or that everything must be accepted.

In the end, each person is responsible for their own choices. Because of original sin, all people stand on equal footing, equally in need of God’s help – His grace. A spiritual and a human self, two totally different parts, wage a continual inner battle over right and wrong. We must recognize this and pray for strength to choose rightly. “This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16).

Two Roads

To the question of why it matters to ponder right and wrong, we can turn to Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount about the broad and narrow ways, or roads (Matt. 7:13,14). The idea that adjusting God’s will to suit oneself makes the road easier and may sound tempting, but according to God’s Word, that path does not lead to happiness. The broad road ultimately leads away from God.

To stay on the narrow road, one must navigate not only the temptations of sin but also the danger of drifting into self-made spirituality. The phenomena of our time indeed seeks to supply kindling to both: on the one hand by questioning traditional values, and on the other by promoting a self-centered approach to faith matters. Still, seeking and following God’s will brings blessings in both this life and the next.

“Then Peter said, ‘Lo, we have left all, and followed thee.’ And he said unto them, ‘Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting’” (Luke 18:28–30).  

Translation: M. Keranen