Post # 59
Regarding predestination, my view is that God predestined a number of people in the Old Testament to be called to play a part in preparing the way for the work of redemption that he promised to Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:14-15) . Some of these included Noah, Abraham and the patriarchs, Moses, Joshua and the Judges of Israel. Also he called and chose Samuel, king David and the other prophets. From the foundation of the world the Word was predestined to be made flesh in the man Jesus (John 1:14-17), who came to redeem mankind to God . He began his ministry by resisting the temptations of Satan, the serpent who had outwitted Adam and Eve, by fasting 40 days and calling upon his Father for inspiration and strength (Matthew 4:1-17). He was successful and thus qualified to have the government of the world placed on his shoulders (Isaiah 9:6-7) which is scheduled to take place at his second coming.
Next he called his disciples according to their natural abilities, gave the spiritual commandments of the New Covenant, lived a sinless life in the Father’s power, was crucified and resurrected, and began to build his church. Prior to his ascension, he gave the Commission to his disciples (Matthew 28:18-20), who became apostles on Pentecost (Acts 2:36-38). The church began to grow rapidly from that point on (Acts 2:39-43).
Acts 2:39 says – “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” There are several predestination theories concerning how God calls people to his church and salvation, which are beyond the scope of this article. I will consider the idea that God may either call a few people or calls everyone and only a few people respond at this time (John 3:16-17). At any rate I believe that those who respond to God’s voice are chosen to be connected to him and walk along the narrow way of salvation at or about the time they respond.
Romans 8:28-30 comes to mind which says – “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified”. NKJV.
I believe God predestined that he would have mercy on certain people and call them and open their minds to believe and understand the gospel, but I am sure each person has the choice to comply or not as implied in the parables of the talents and the sower and the seed – depending on their circumstances. I don’t believe God forces anyone to be saved or condemned. Jonah was given a strong push to comply with God’s command to warn Ninevah about their impending doom, but he wasn’t pleased that God spared them when they repented.
Romans 9:14-15 says – “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion’.”
Regarding waiting upon the Lord, it seems common for sincere and well intentioned Christians to think of ways to promote the gospel and plan how to do a project and then afterward pray that God will bless their efforts ( “stepping out in faith”?). God may or may not back them up as evidenced by the fruit produced.
We should ask God in prayer ahead of time for inspiration and help to choose and plan a project that is in line with His will, which may involve telling others about his unconditional love and plan of salvation.
Ideally parental love should also be unconditional and independent of what we do, good or bad. Personally I grew up doing what I thought I needed to do to please my parents and was unaware that I was actually trying to earn their attention, acceptance and love. There was a lot of competition for attention in my rather large family. I think I developed attention getting devices in that family setting.
How could that be pertinent to my Christian life today? Well we need to develop ways of giving attention to others equal to our own need to receive attention.
You may not have a problem of devising ways to manipulate others for selfish reasons, but it does point us to Jeremiah, who said that the heart is deceitful and almost impossible to understand.
Jeremiah 17:9 says “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? ” NIV
We not only deceive each other but we can also deceive our own selves.
When following the urge to be helpful, we need to heed the advice given above and seek God’s will and input beforehand.
God loves everyone on earth equally, even though only a minority of people seem to respond to obey him and do his bidding. We cannot earn his love by trying to do whatever we may think of to please him, because he loves us already – as much as he can. We just need to love him in return. If we don’t know how to love him we are encouraged to ask him. It reminds me of the song in Jesus Christ Superstar “I Don’t Know How To Love Him”.
We need to ask, seek and knock. We may need to ask what it means for us, as unique individuals, to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness in our lives.
If we want to make a contribution to God’s work we need to pray, and wait and listen for his inspiration and guidance.
Isaiah 40:30-31 says - “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
At my age I am thinking in terms of spiritual running and flying as regards learning to practice God’s way of life.
The New International Version says “those who hope in the Lord”
The New Living Translation says “those who trust in the Lord”
The Message version says “those who wait upon God”
So we need to wait, hope and trust.
I am confident that if God has had mercy and called us, he will answer and inspire us to use our talents and gifts to benefit others in the community where we live. Let us continue to follow the way of loving God first and doing whatever he leads us to do in response to his love.
God has given us free will to choose to believe and follow him or not. Deuteronomy 28 lays out Blessings for Obedience and Curses for Disobedience – and urges us to choose the way of Blessings. It is not God’s will to make the choice for us by predestining how we might decide. We must take the initiative and ask for wisdom to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit.
