I would like to say that there is much about God I don’t understand because I am not a theologian. But I imagine theologians have just as much trouble with some of the following concepts as I do.
For instance, I struggle with the idea of the Trinity: God in three persons but still one.
I also wonder how Jesus was fully God and fully man.
And then there is the coexistence of predestination and free will. A paradox if I have ever heard one. One that many in our victim-focused society use to believe God is selective and unloving and then blame Him for all that goes wrong (and rarely give credit to if anything goes right).
We know God foreknows all by the following verses:
“…he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will” (Ephesians 1:5)
“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Romans 8:29)
“Your eyes saw me unformed, yet in Your book all my days were written, before any of them came into being” (Psalm 139:16)
But before we think our salvation is completely out of our control, 2 Peter 3:9 reminds us that “The Lord isn’t slow to keep his promise, as some think of slowness, but he is patient toward you, not wanting anyone to perish but all to change their hearts and lives (emphasis mine).
No, I don’t know how it all works together because, thankfully, I have a God that is so big and powerful that all his attributes (love, justice, omniscience, etc.) are beyond my human comprehension. But I do know this. Every single day I have choices. And every single one of those choices is mine alone to make––as much as I would love to blame others when things don’t go so well.
So probably the best line to help with this predestination/free will conundrum is another line I saw in that perpetual Amish calendar my mother gave me. It read:
“The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will.”
For instance, I struggle with the idea of the Trinity: God in three persons but still one.
I also wonder how Jesus was fully God and fully man.
And then there is the coexistence of predestination and free will. A paradox if I have ever heard one. One that many in our victim-focused society use to believe God is selective and unloving and then blame Him for all that goes wrong (and rarely give credit to if anything goes right).
We know God foreknows all by the following verses:
“…he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will” (Ephesians 1:5)
“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Romans 8:29)
“Your eyes saw me unformed, yet in Your book all my days were written, before any of them came into being” (Psalm 139:16)
But before we think our salvation is completely out of our control, 2 Peter 3:9 reminds us that “The Lord isn’t slow to keep his promise, as some think of slowness, but he is patient toward you, not wanting anyone to perish but all to change their hearts and lives (emphasis mine).
No, I don’t know how it all works together because, thankfully, I have a God that is so big and powerful that all his attributes (love, justice, omniscience, etc.) are beyond my human comprehension. But I do know this. Every single day I have choices. And every single one of those choices is mine alone to make––as much as I would love to blame others when things don’t go so well.
So probably the best line to help with this predestination/free will conundrum is another line I saw in that perpetual Amish calendar my mother gave me. It read:
“The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will.”
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