A Life Worthy

Tag: predestination.

  • One-a-Day Monday, 11/17/13

    number 1All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16).

    Predestination…or free will?

    Look, Monday morning is not the time to get into a discussion that heavy.  Let me just say—it’s both.

    No, really.

    God created all things, ya? Therefore, he created time.  He is not bound by time, the way we are.  God exists at all moments in history simultaneously.  Simply put, all time—past, present, and future—is now to God.

    This brings up all sorts of cool thoughts, but let’s just focus on one: You know the moment you ache for, that moment when Christ returns and you get a glorified body and there will be no more night or pain or sorrow or sin or tears?  That blessed someday?

    Well, Beloved, it isn’t someday to God.

    It’s Today.  It’s Right Now.

    When God looks at you, he sees you as you are today—pimples, gray hairs, and all.  (And, by the way, how is it that I can have both going on at the same time?)

    But God also sees you as you will be—glorified, complete, utterly and thoroughly his.  That is as real and immediate to him as the mess you might be on this particular Monday morning.

    There is only One who can actually see the finished product, and he says it’s perfect.

    Chew on that today, Beloved.

  • One-a-Day Tuesday, 2/25/14

    number 1For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son that he might be the firstborn among many brothers (Romans 8:29).

    Free will vs. Predestination…do you really think that I’m going to attack that in a two-minute devotional?

    O.K., real quick…

    It’s both.

    We have 100% free will, and God 100% predestined us to come to him.  Call it “God Math.”

    The best illustration I have seen of the concept goes like this: picture a sheet of paper—just your basic computer paper.  If I told you that I could fold that paper so that it was a triangle and a circle—at the same time—you would probably think I was nutty.

    Because you would be thinking in two dimensions.

    But I’m thinking in three.

    See, in three dimensions I can fold that paper into a cone, which will look like a circle from one angle and a triangle from another angle.  Add a dimension, and the impossible becomes simple.

    We operate in a three-dimensional world—well, four counting time.

    How many dimensions do you think God operates in?

    So let’s not get caught up in if or how predestination works.  Let’s focus on the fact that you were called, not to be a slave, not even to be a servant, but to be a son of God, brother or sister to the firstborn among many brothers.

    That there’s enough to chew on for a Tuesday.

  • One-a-Day Wednesday 10/9/13

    number 1For he (God) chose us in him (Jesus) before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight (Ephesians 1:4).

    You are the chosen one.

    Well, maybe not the chosen one, but certainly a chosen one.

    Before he made the world, God had you in mind.  He knew who you would be, how you would be, your many sins, your epic, endless failures.

    And he loved you.

    And he chose you.

    Wow.

    Consider this: God is not bound by time, right?  Past, present, future—it’s all kind of now to him.  So, when he looks at you he sees you not only as you are, but as you will be.

    Holy.

    Blameless.

    Now, if only you could learn to see yourself as he sees you.