Today, I wanted to offer the following and get your thoughts. First of all, here's Paul's words to the Church in Ephesus.
...He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. 1:4 NASB
Now on to a thought of the "50-cent" word predestination. Catch this:
If we see God's grace in Christ as the basis for our 'election' to salvation, we will not dream of looking for it in ourselves and in our superiority to other people.
- Shirley Guthrie
Guthrie goes on to say, If we understand the meaning of predestination in light of the biblical witness to God's grace in Christ, we will understand it as both a gift and a task.
Big snack today. Chew slowly and then let me hear your comments.
human effort and the grace of God
4 hours ago
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4 comments:
Crowm,
I like the thought of predestination as both gift AND task. We're predestinated in Christ not just to privilege, but to responsibility.
Of course this does remind me that apart from grace, there's no hope for any of us. That's not just an initial thing, but an ongoing everyday reality.
He has choosen us but...have we chosen Him? In order to have a destiny we must choose the right direction. I think the maybe choice does away with predistiny? If everything is predestined then why give a choice? I think He may have a destiny for each of us but we must make Him our choice in order to access it. We must then be open to the direction of the Holy Spirit as a guide and instructor. Futher our distiny may be down a winding road where we are required to make many choices.
So says Mike
Ted,
Guthrie does a good job of describing our responsibility toward faith in Christ. Too often predestination is seen as something that just happens to us. I think Guthrie is right on in his definition of predestination. Thanks for your words and thoughts here.
m
Anon/Mike,
I like the latter half of your comment. Too often, predestination means no choice in the matter. However, it sounds like you've read Ephesians. Paul makes it clear that those chosen are chosen IN CHRIST. What Paul is saying is the entire human race is destined to be like Christ. However, having a certain destiny doesn't mean will live up to what God wants. Our first response should be making a decision for Christ. Thanks again!
m
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