Election, God's Sovereignty, and "Free Will".

I know it's been a long time since I've posted here. There have been some times when I have wanted to, but then other things have distracted me.

A couple days ago, as I was digging in the garden, and meditating on the things of the Lord, something happened. To put it in the words of Micky Mouse, "A faint light begins to trickle through the cracks in my dome."

So, what was this great revelation? Well, some of you know that I'm now half a century old, and still single. Some of you even know that last year I was engaged to someone who turned out to be the wrong person. And some of you even know of other women I'd been interested in over the years.

Now, you might be asking, how this relates to the title of this section? Well, it relates in that, for years I've been lamenting all the "bad" decisions I've made over the years. You know, that constant phrase, "if only ..." that hangs in the back of your mind. Having met the Lord at the age of 6, I've always taken things to Him, and always believed that there are no coincidences in life. So, I was trying to fit some pieces of my belief system together, and then it dawned on me.

The children. The children born to the women I've been interested in, who met and married other men. How many of those children are of the Elect, chosen before the foundation of the earth? Christ said that none of those that the Father had given to Him would be lost, none could be plucked from his hand.

To make this more clear, let's go back to the Old Testament, where God promised Abraham and Sarah a son. Now, this son was to be born of them, not of Abraham and some other woman, but of Abraham and Sarah. This son was Isaac. Sarah didn't have the faith to believe that it would happen, and convinced Abraham to take her servant as a wife, that the child of promise might come through her. And when Ishmael was born, God told them that this was not the son of promise, but that the child was yet to come through Sarah.

This is an example of God's sovereignty with regard to his Elect, regardless of our exercising of "free will".

Another example I could point out is with Jonah and the people of Nineveh. God wanted the people of Nineveh to be saved, in spite of their current and past enmity with Israel. Jonah did not wish to be the instrument of God's salvation, he hated the people of Nineveh, so he tried to run the other direction. We all know the story (or should). God sent a storm. The men on the ship Jonah had sought to escape on thought they were going to drown, till Jonah told them it was his fault, and they should throw him overboard. Even then they didn't want to do it, but finally they did. God had prepared a large fish, or whale (I've heard it both ways, only the Lord knows which it was) to swallow Jonah, and take him to Nineveh. Jonah repented of his sin on the third day in the belly of this creature, and was deposited on the shore near Nineveh. Jonah preached repentance, the whole city repented and followed God, and it's destruction was delayed for 400 years.

Now, let's take a look at David and Bathsheba. We know what happened, and we know that Solomon was born of David and Bathsheba. Now, after considering what God has said in His Word about the Elect, it seems to me that, had David done what he was supposed to do, and gone out with the army to war, God would have taken care of putting David and Bathsheba together without their sin, and Solomon would have been born anyway.

I've talked with a number of people who have told me they had tried to run from God, when God sent people to tell them the gospel. In the end, though, they could not run far enough or fast enough to outrun God. Being of the Elect, God had placed in their path everything necessary to their coming to the point of accepting Jesus Christ as their savior. I believe that is the case with all of the Elect, regardless of what time in their life they accept Christ.

And I believe that the reason my earthly father survived the Korean War, when everyone else from two companies that he had been in, did not, was that I and my sister were to be born of my father and mother.

Now, I know, many of you would like to hold up "free will" as a banner, and claim that it is by "free will" that we accept Jesus Christ as our savior; however, there remains that (not so) little problem of the sin nature, passed on from father to child, from Adam on. Before we accept Christ, we are a slave to sin. All our best thoughts and deeds are done for selfish motives, whether consciously or unconsciously. We are enemies with God, whether passive or active. Even if we try, we cannot please God, "For without faith, it is impossible to please Him."

There is a sense in which we "freely" make the decision, but even that faith to accept Christ comes from God, not of works, lest any man should boast (there are those who would belabor the point of whether or not making a decision is a "work", I believe that it can be construed as such). So, perhaps the way to look at it is that many may come to the point of decision, some even several times in their life here on earth, but only the Elect ever truly make the decision to follow Christ; the rest may appear to make the decision, or may reject the faith given to them at that point.

At any rate, I'm no longer lamenting the past missed opportunities, but rather looking forward to the ones to come, and I pray that all of the children of those I've known and loved (or had affection for) may be of the Elect, and may have been saved at the earliest time possible (and if not yet saved, may accept Christ soon).

I have to go, now, so I will let you contemplate this. I may edit it later with scripture references, but at least I've got this written.

PK

What is "life"?

No, I'm not talking about our lives, though many people are asking what life is, what good it is to be living, what their purpose in life is.

Here I want to ask what the definition, the Biblical definition, of life is.

You know, scientists only classify plants and animals as "life". But, if we read the Bible, we see that God treats all of creation as living. Not only the Earth, but mountains, rocks, rivers, stars, and planets all as living things which rejoice, groan, travail, dance, sing, and declare the glory of God.

Christ himself told the Pharisees on the Sunday before he died, that if the people did not sing his praises, the very rocks would cry out.

Now scientists tell us that the rocks are recording the things that happen around them, though we have no means to decipher those recordings.

If indeed the Lord's definition of "life" is much broader than what we humans and our "science" wish to admit, then how much more of a tragedy is it that mankind, as a whole, and even we as Christians in our daily lives, have been such poor stewards?

I would that we could go back and convince our ancestors of the need to care for and preserve not only the plants and animals, but the land and sea, as living things.

Still, there is coming a day when Christ shall come, and redeem the whole of creation, which the Bible says is groaning today, because of sin, and expectantly waiting for that day.

Something to think about, next time you kick a pebble, or look at a mountain, or a brook, or a lake, or look up at the stars.

PK