Dear Trekker,
Imagine the scene… I’m in my car with my 17-year-old granddaughter, bound for Kansas to return her to her parents following a camping assignment at a Christian retreat center! We had been in the car for only a couple minutes and I commented (addressing her by name), “We’ve got three plus hours ahead of us. You can read, sleep or talk to your Grandpa. Your choice! Frankly, I’d love to talk to my granddaughter, but it’s your choice.” A couple minutes passed by and then I heard these words from my granddaughter, a senior in high school… “Gramps, give me your views on predestination vs. free will.”
Wow, I thought to myself, “Bring it on girl.” What an opportunity to speak into a grandchild’s life! For the next few hours, it was non-stop! What an engagement! What a divine appointment! Words flowed; responses were processed. From one step to another, to life’s truths!
Reflecting on what a grandfather can (and did) do with a question as huge as this, I thought I would share with you what I said to her. Good, long standing theological questions (and this is one), are “good” because they touch the reality of life as we all live it.
So I started… “Well, first honey, the way you phrase the question speaks volumes.” And I went on from there… “predestination and free will are not against each other. They simply reflect too different perspectives.” And perspective tells us a lot about where we are coming from in any discussion.
From God’s perspective (which man cannot fully understand because “I am not God,” we each must someday say) everything is by definition, predestined. That is, God is not only sovereign, he is beyond (outside) time and space! That is everything we think of as yesterday, today and tomorrow, simply “is, all at once with God.” The Alpha and Omega has in fact, no beginning or end. He is the forever, “I am” (present tense) as Scripture states repeatedly. His thoughts and actions are all simultaneous, and must be so, because God is God… a forever Spirit. (Trekker, as background this month, read and digest Isaiah 54-57. It will be helpful.)
God created man in His image to have fellowship with Him. As a reflection of His embedded nature of love, He set the world in motion. “Not willing that any should perish,” He “knew” He would provide a way back to Himself (through the invasion of earth by His son) for wayward people who, by their free-will, chose (and choose) to walk away from God through disbelieving what He said. (The Genesis 2 and 3 story!)
Now, “let’s talk about so called free will!” “You know, free will is not a Scriptural term! I prefer the phrase “the power of choice” or the ability and necessity to make decisions and live with the outcome.” Man’s will is free in the sense that we choose our lives within the parameters of creation. For example, our first birth we don’t choose; we definitely choose our “second birth.” So man is free to a point. Our “free will” cannot counter the laws of nature and we cannot “get back to God on our own?” All redemption, just as creation, begins with God’s initiative. And it is always precipitated by love; we choose to accept or reject His initiative.
I went on… so much in life seems to be random. We see from our perspective the underside. The topside, seen only by God, is a beautiful tapestry. Virtually all outcomes, subject to man’s choices, appear random, a muddled mass. But from God’s perspective, nothing is random because the Creator has put creation (ends, ways and means) “on course.” The beginning and the end blend into one. Life unfolds for us in our lives; life “is” for God! (Trekker, so many Scriptural passages, such as the Lord’s words in John 14:6, flow from this principle.)
“So, (I said) normally predestination vs. free will comes up in connection with what Christians call salvation. Is one predestined to receive Christ or do we choose? Both baby… both!” From God’s perspective, we are most certainly predestined (See Romans 8:28-39). From man’s view point, we exercise our “free will” (with God’s help by the Spirit, I added) and accept Jesus as our Savior, our Redeemer. All those who do are the elect! How do we know if we are the elect? We know for sure as we accept Christ. I explained to her the only final condemning sin (one that Christ cannot remove) is unbelief (see John 3:18). And unbelief is a choice.
The same God who has always claimed us for Himself from the moment we were conceived in the mind of God (far “before” our human birth, see Psalm 139 for further background) also “ordained” man’s will would be the normal means to bring this about.
Can man, through his power of choice, change what God has ordained? Ultimately no, but we can know what God’s desired will is for us as we act positively upon what a loving God asks us to do in His inspired written Word. I explained how all sin binds us in an inability to get back in harmony with God. And that we think “we are in charge” when our power to make choices is (in fact) not free, but bound. Ergo, we try harder to control our lives (and “everything else,” I added).
Well, trekker, the spin-offs of a conversation like this are so far-reaching this newsletter could not contain them all. College, boys, studies… you name it, we had a good time. My grandchildren are awesome!
This month, once again, I close… “Oh Lord, don’t let me die until I pass on the power of God to the next (and the next) generation, your might to all who are to come.” I had just turned 81 a few days before this conversation. How much more time do I have? He knows; I don’t. But my daily choices are to live in Him. Staying spiritually and physically fit may have a lot to do with how many more years I keep passing the baton to the next generation. That baton is God the Father, His Son Jesus, and His Holy Spirit. As we walk with Him, we will never be alone. God bless you, trekker.
Your friend,
Jim Meredith
