THE ILLUSION OF PREDESTINATION

God is the God of all time. He exists in the past, present and future. For him time is just another created entity that is controlled by him. I can somewhat comprehend the foreknowledge of God in this manner: I am 71 years old. I know at 71 that I have been in the Navy, have married, have three children who are married, and am retired. If I was like God, and time was something I created, I (being god) would exist also at the time I was born as well as I do at this time, and for eternity. Time is like a dot moving along a line.

- - >Birth===========>.(Now)==========>Death - - - - - - - - ->>

Creatures subject to time must stay on the dot, but God stands back a distance from the line and can see the dot, the beginning and end of the line. So if I were like God, I could stand back from the line, while the dot was at 71 years and see clearly at the spot on the line of me at zero years. I would know that in the “future” I would join the Navy, get married, have children, work and retire.

If I were like God, I could proclaim all this to the zero year spot on the line and it would sound to the zero year old creation me like predestination. However, the 71 year old me had been making choices all along the way to the present, and will make choices into the future. But I can not stand back from the line, like God, to see the extent of it. God may know what my choices will be but I do not. I must make them when I arrive at them with the best of my knowledge, experience, intelligence and ability. And It is possible for me to make bad choices, even sinful ones. God does not strong-arm me to decide certain ways. The finest proof of that is: God gave me the choice of whether to accept Christ as Savior and Lord or not. I did not have a place in heaven until I chose it.

FROM THE WELL OF HUMANISM

Here is a quote I recently saw: "Your ability to generate power is directly proportional to your ability to relax." Will someone explain this to me? What is “your power”? It seems to me it could be many things. Your “power” would be directed toward something or things or purpose. What are they? This sentence, “Your ability . . . “, would require many paragraphs to explain it, perhaps a book. The sentence does not convey usable guidance as would a verse (any verse) from Proverbs. The sentence comes from the well of humanism.

SERVING IS NOT AN OPTION

Jesus speaks to his disciples when they did not want him to wash their feet, “. . . if I wash thee not, thou hast no part in me.” He was saying that it is not an option about accepting the service of God. We must accept his personally serving us. Even though we know him to be God - - greater than any other person, object or force - - we must allow him to serve us. Even if he is very much higher in station and privilege than us we accept his service as if he were one very much lower.

So our serving others is not an activity we should avoid. We do it because we are to be like him, as commanded. We should do as he does. Right after talking about serving, Jesus tells us “. . . the servant is not greater than his lord . . .” Why does he say this? Is it because he knows as we get to serving one another we will begin to think how noble and giving we are? Perhaps more noble and giving than anyone else in the whole world ever was? Perhaps more a servant than God ever knew how to be?

We can never serve as God has served us: by taking the punishment for a misbehaving creation to demonstrate the extent of his care for us. Yet he wants us to be like him in serving. In doing so we must remember we are made to serve, not to be served. And, may I add, when being served we show sincere appreciation for it.