Understanding Grace

In the beginning when God created life the universe and everything, he gave man freedom of choice.  The choice to choose right from wrong, good from bad, generosity from greed, being helpful from hindrance, loving from lust, etc.  If we choose what is right there is a cost and there is also a benefit, if we choose what is wrong there may be a benefit but there is always a consequence.  The consequence of our decision to do what is wrong not only affects us, but also those around us. 

Sometimes bad things are a direct result of wrong we do:

• If we exceed the speed limit : we can expect to get a fine.
• If we have a fight and injure someone: we could end up in jail.

Sometimes bad things happen as a result of others doing wrong:

• If someone steel your lunch: you go hungry.
• If is a war: some will be killed and some will be orphaned.

If you think that life is not fair then you are quite correct. LIFE IS NOT FAIR.  It is not supposed to be; life is not about fairness, life it is about GRACE.

Grace is where someone who loves you, and knows that you cannot afford it, pays your speeding fine for you; someone shares his lunch with you because yours was stolen; someone bails you out of jail; someone adopts the orphan and becomes their father.  Grace and fairness are not the same things. Don't get me wrong. God is just and we are accountable to Him for our actions (and inactions). But God is also gracious.

You see we all do what is wrong, each and every one of us.  We all have fallen short of the glory of God.  Each of us has gone his (or her) own way, like stray sheep wondering of to do his own thing and not the right things that God intended.  But I do mostly what is right isn't that good enough. To not break the law you must do what is right all the time and as the apostle Paul wrote: "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23 NIV)

There is something that you must understand about God.  God is absolutely good, absolutely pure, absolutely holy and absolutely just.  There is no darkness in Him at all.  To stand in His presence we must be absolutely pure.  But as you know, mankind is anything but pure.

I will use cake for an analogy.  In some ways our lives are a bit like baking a cake. To make a good cake you must have 100% good ingredients.  If you have 99% good ingredients and 1% dog poo, you can’t make a good cake.  You may argue that it only has a little bit of dog poo and that it’s mostly good, but are you willing to eat it?  We are a bit like this.  At best we are only mostly good and therefore partly bad.  The Bible describes our good works as filthy rags.  So what about our good intentions that so often go wrong?  “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23)

So this is what God did about it, He came in the very person of Jesus taking upon Himself the likeness of a man. This man Jesus loved like no other and he was righteous like no other. In His love he took upon Himself all the sins of the world and died in our place.  It was he who picked up the tab, he who took upon Himself the inadequacies of us all and it is His love that sets us free.

So, what will you do about Jesus?

If you want the ride of your life, and don’t mind that you will have your life turned upside-down and inside out, challenged and changed and if you don’t mind getting your hands dirty, having a bit of a rough ride occasionally but also having life and living it to the full, then you’d better check out what Jesus said.

Life in Christ is rewarding like no other but it is not always easy or necessarily comfortable. And the cost can be considerable as there will be many things that will change and need to be changed, but the journey is worth it and so is the destination.

But before you race of and start something that you cannot finish, Jesus talked about counting the cost, and he did this through a Parable.

"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:28 – 33 NIV)

The Parable that Jesus told about counting the cost is in two parts. The first part is counting the cost of following Jesus, which can be substantial, especially for some people in more restrictive parts of the world.  The second part of the parable is about a king, with an opposing king coming against him with a far greater army. The decision that must be made as to whether he can defend his kingdom against the overwhelming odds or whether he should send a delegation to ask for terms of peace.

One day, whether we like it or not, we shall all stand before God our Creator and to Him, we will have to give an account of our action and inaction. Can we defend ourselves against God, or should we ask for terms of peace before that day comes.

God loves you, but He will not put up with the corruption of man forever.

It’s time to choose.

Predestination Versus Choice

An age old enigma - Predestination or Choice.  Is God truly omnipotent?  Does He control everything?  If so why are we responsible for our actions and what about our right to choose?  These questions can be warped up in one:  does God of predestine everything or do we have the ability to choose? 

So, predestination versus choice, 

     what does the Bible say about the issue?

In the very front of the Bible just after it talks about the creation of man, we have these words: ‘God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”’ (Genesis 1:28 NIV) -  In this verse, God gives man authority over the earth and everything in it. Implicit with this is mankind’s authority to choose because you cannot have authority without the capability of making choice.     

And then there is one of my favorite verses from Joshua:

“. . . . . then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, . . . . . But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15 NIV) 

And in the New Testament:

 ^“ . . . . . Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:42 NIV) - clearly, Mary had the capability to choose and she chose well.

But on the other side of the coin we read of predestination:

For Exodus: ‘The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.’ (Exodus 4:21 NIV)

And in the New Testament:

“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will - to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.” (Ephesians 1:4-6 NIV)

And then there are the prophecies where God explains what will happen ahead of time.

So which is it, predestination or choice?

   And why do these verses seem so contradictory? 

Do you remember the days of high school mathematics when the teacher stood there and asked the question what is the square root of 4?  I certainly remember it.  Someone quick of the mark, wiped up there hand and answered 2. I remember how surprised I was when the teacher said “that is incorrect”.   The entire class erupting into total turmoil, and no one could hear what the teacher was saying for about five minutes.  When the class did eventually quieten down, the teacher went on to explain that there are actually two answers and then wrote on the board the following:

2 x 2 = 4
- 2 x - 2 = 4

The square root of 4 has two answers:  +2 and - 2

Both are correct at the same time.

This is the way I see it:

Firstly:

In the beginning when God created life the universe and everything, He also created time.  This would mean that God is not bound by time.

Secondly:

In the beginning when God created life the universe and everything, he gave man freedom of choice.  The choice to choose right from wrong, good from bad, generosity from greed, being helpful from hindrance, loving from lust, etc.  If we choose what is right there is a cost and benefit, if we choose what is wrong there may be a benefit, but there is always a consequence.  The consequence of our decision to do what is wrong not only affects us but also those around us. 

Man is bound by time; God is not.  As man journeys along the timeline he sees the decisions he makes as choices. This is the way it is for man because he chooses his direction, but God sees it differently. God who transcends time sees things from a different, much bigger point of view. He sees all the decisions we make past, present and future, like as if an open book. He sees things as predestined and He predestines all things.

Beyond Time 

It can be difficult to comprehend what it might be like beyond the timeline as the timeline is the only live we have ever known.   A wise young lady once shared with me something that may make it easier to understand:

Imagine a world with only two dimensions all the occupants of this world were only two dimensional, they had width and breadth but they did not have any height because in their world there was no height.  Imagine standing with your ankle in this world.  To the occupants of this world, there would be two completely separate almost circular objects - cross-sections of you ankles.  You could explain to them that you are only one person, that these two objects are only part of you and that you are much bigger that these two objects that they perceive.   But would they understand this?  I think we are a bit like this, we cannot truly comprehend what outside of time would be like.

  

To conclude

God is not bound by time and so He knows everything that we had done and everything that we will do, but even with all this, He still chooses to loves us.  God wants what is best for us but this is not necessarily what we think we need.  We like little children cry out, “but I want to do what I want to do!”  But what we need is to do that which is right.

God over sees and coordinates the big picture and the little picture, but we still have a choice and it is we who chose.  Predestination and choice are not mutually exclusive.