In college and immediately following, one of my favorite theology topics to discuss was predestination. I was always trying to wrap my mind around how the concept worked. At the time, I was pretty convinced that the arguments in support of predestination cut against our free will--and thus diminished our ability to choose God. If God predestined me to choose Him, why was He telling me to "choose life" or to "repent and believe"? I found it disingenuous to say He tells us to choose when He has given us no choice.
The courageous Albertus Magnus recommended Jonathon Edward's Freedom of the Will. I wrestled with it the best I could. This probably isn't a fair summary, but I took from it, essentially, the concept that we certainly feel free. Plus, we may have freedom in the areas of life that don't ultimately impact our destiny. Instead, our wills are free to respond to the actions of God. We might rejoice in a trying circumstance--knowing that, somehow, God is doing something good (note the predestination in the next verse!)--or we might complain, even about good circumstances. It is as if a wall existed between my emotional response--delighting in the Lord or not--and the physical actions that are unfolding in the world around me. I cannot control others' actions, I cannot control illness, wars, floods, and famine. I can, however, control my response to them. Are they, or are they not, within God's good plan for me and this world?
The early Church may very well have seen predestination as part of this good plan. As we read in Hebrews 10, it was a time of immense persecution:
Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
So the thought that nothing could separate God from chosen His people had great importance. If we persevered, the promised reward was guaranteed--it was predestined--as nothing was strong enough to rip it away from God:
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:31-39.
With that strong of a God, we need not worry that we might suffer during life and end up with no reward. The future is certain, it is just a matter of persevering to the promise. When facing trials, a certain hope of the future was, and is, blessed assurance indeed.
So, in this light, predestination is not an affront to our free will, it is a different issue entirely. If we "choose life" and "repent and believe"--whether freely or by God's will--once that decision has been made, predestination gives us the hope to battle on.
The notion that the battle is a supervised affair, even when we feel alone and in trouble, is good news. I was reminded of this last week as I watched my oldest daughter swim in the pool's shallow end. There were two lifeguards in the area, lots of other parents, and I was watching at a distance. The bottom was only 3 1/2 feet down, and there was a lane line keeping people out of the deep end. In short, it seemed quite safe to everyone.
None of these protections, however, were obvious to the little swimmer. She only felt herself choosing her direction, stroke, and speed. To her, it must have seemed that she was the master of her own swimming destiny. The reality from the pool deck, however, was that she was always safe. If she started to flail, I could decide if it was good to let her work it out for her own growth or if it was time to jump in and help out. She didn't know that no matter what she decided, she was not going to be in too much trouble.
It seemed to me that as we swim about in life, we might not notice just how secure we are--as long as we just keep swimming. At times we get nervous that we are drowning, other times we have fun and splash about. In all circumstances though, the key is to stay in the shallow end, and keep swimming under His watchful eyes. We are safe there, even when we don't feel it.
Dive in to the Bless Assurance,
Thomas More
allthesemore@yahoo.com
To everything there is a season. I believe this is true, but in one area, I am having a hard time coming to terms with it: friendships. As a mom who has chosen to care for her children full-time at home, I have discovered that some friends (particularly those who have not chosen that path) are not as close any more. Certainly proximity (or the lack thereof) has something to do with it. We don't meet for business lunches or run into each other in the Capitol, so it's not as convenient. But sometimes I wonder if it's because we've made different choices about how to raise our kids, and that has raised a wall between us. Other friends may just have moved on... chosing to spend time with others, for whatever reason. 
Recent Comments