It's fate, right?

The beautiful girl standing on the stage offered this explanation for her life as a model; “I won the DNA lottery.”  She is tall, thin; the ideal of physical beauty.  But, I am not quite ready to accept that her life is an accident, that there is no better reason for who she is and what she has done with her life than luck!

Do you wonder why things happen as they do?  Is it fate, a pre-determined course that we cannot alter?  Is it karma, the accumulated consequence of our choices in the past? Is there no really no why to be found because life is just a random set of occurrences, a wild ride for a brief interlude through time and this universe?   Or, has God pre-determined all of life, deciding how and why for us, leaving us no reason to ask why?

The Scripture assures that God’s knowledge encompasses the past, the present, and the future.  There is great peace to be found in Psalm 139 where the Spirit teaches us that “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”  (16, NIV)  He was not surprised by my conception. My choices today are known to Him. Yes, even the moment in which I will take my last breath is part of His knowing. Yet, the Bible is equally clear that He gives us freedom to choose, that our actions have real consequence. We are invited to ‘keep step with the Spirit.’ (Galatians 5:25) Our choices produce a harvest – good or bad – as we live.  God holds each of us accountable for our choices, something He could not justly do if we were without freedom to choose.

So what of the Word’s declaration that God has pre-destined us to be called His children?  He has determined that sin will be judged, that faith in Christ will produce eternal life, and that righteousness will be rewarded. Yes, there is pre-destination.  Jesus invites us to “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matthew 7:13-14, NIV)  So, what is your destination within the will of God?

If I get onto Interstate 95, and drive south far enough, I will inevitably end up in Miami. That’s where that road leads.  If I take Interstate 80, westbound, I will end up in San Francisco.  The designers of the system predetermined that.  With my destination in mind, I choose the road I take.

God has determined that if we serve Self, if we ignore His offer of grace through Christ, our destination will be a place without Him, without light and life.  That declaration is not up for a vote, will not change because you or I find it unacceptable. It is pre-destined!  He has also determined that when we respond to His invitation and receive, in faith, the life of the Spirit through Christ, that we will find ourselves at Home in His Presence eternally. "You also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory." (Ephesians 1:13-15, NIV)

What of those things that ‘happen’ to us along the way?  To err by making all of life a fixed set of choice and consequence leads only to great insecurity and/or becoming a slave to attempted perfectionistic control! Jesus cautioned His disciples about judging a man who was blind as being responsible for his own blindness because of some sin. His words remind us that we are part of a plan that sometimes is too big for us to grasp. "As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." (John 9:1-3, NIV)  To decide that we are simply part of fate, or part of a pre-determined plan of God, will rob us of the joy of discovering God’s life and living in the center of His providence.

Meditate on this revelation of the purposes of God. As you do, may He reveal to you the interplay between His declared will and your privilege to choose, both working to bring Him honor and us joy!

"This is the Message I’ve been set apart to proclaim as preacher, emissary, and teacher. It’s also the cause of all this trouble I’m in. But I have no regrets. I couldn’t be more sure of my ground—the One I’ve trusted in can take care of what he’s trusted me to do right to the end. So keep at your work, this faith and love rooted in Christ, exactly as I set it out for you. It’s as sound as the day you first heard it from me. Guard this precious thing placed in your custody by the Holy Spirit who works in us." (2 Timothy 1:11-14, The Message)