The starting point on the spiritual journey is ineluctably one’s realization that he has been created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), and that God has given human beings free will, i.e., the possibility of choosing between good and evil, life and death, divine blessing or curse (Deuteronomy 30: 15, 19, 20), and urges him to choose life, listens to him, having already told him not to trust in his own intelligence, but in all things to recognize the hand of God and to lean on Him (on His Word), and He will make all his pathways straight. (Proverbs 3:5)
So a human being’s choices are totally his own responsibility.
If he chooses evil, then realizes his mistake and has the courage, will, and strength to correct himself and return to the right way, then there’s forgiveness, penance, and a return to the good and to life in union with God. (Jeremiah 36:3).
But if he willfully choose evil, he’ll have to pay the consequences (Galatians 6:7), (Hebrews 10:26, 27).
The Bible compares human life to a journey toward a prize, toward the reign of God on earth
(II Timothy 4:7) (Philippians 2:14). During this journey and even within the reign of God itself, man must continually change and progress, moving toward the full stature of Jesus Christ, living according to God’s Word. That Word of God is the daily food of the spiritual man.