Predestination

The other night, I was having a bad go of it and stressing over a rather minor issue that, at the time, seemed bigger than it was. It was late, I was hyper, and relational issues have never been my strong suit. The girl who normally helps me deal with all my dysfunctional relationships was out with wisdom teeth drugs, and I found myself suddenly on my own, left to deal with a sticky situation. My tendency in sticky situations is to hack my way out by any means possible, which usually leads to one or more people bleeding, and I was determined not to do that.

So, of course, I turned to one of my other friends for advice. In the midst of his very sound advice, which I was quite thankful for, he said something very like "Just relax; whatever happens, it's God's plan."

The problem with this seemingly comforting statement is that I am not a Calvinist.

I don't believe that God plans out every little detail of our lives and preordains them. Do I believe that he knows what will happen? Yes. Because for him, it has already happened. It is happening. He knows which choices we will make because he is watching us make them. To me, it's not so much of a both/and as a neither question.

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' says the Lord. 'Plans to prosper, not harm you, to give you a future in hope.'" Do I believe God has a plan for my life? Yes. Do I think that my imperfect, human self is going to stick to the plan 100% of the time? No. Do I believe that he is working everything for my good? Yes. Do I believe that everything I do is him working in me? No.

The mistakes I make are mine. God can redeem them and turn them into something good, but he does not ordain that I should make decisions that lead to evil. God does not want evil; he wants only good for his people. He allows evil, for now, because without another choice, there is no love.

Love is at the core of who God is. It powers his desire for justice, his righteous wrath, and his joy in creating. He loves us because he loves us, because he doesn't know how to be any different. That's why he sent his son to earth to pay for our sins. Not just to pay for some of them. Not just to atone for the big ones, and we have to pay off the little ones ourselves. To pay for all of them. On the cross, Jesus cried, "It is finished!" and it is finished; paid in full. Totally redeemed. We now live with souls white as snow, and though we stumble and fall, we are continually being made new. That is the joy of the Gospel. That is the core of what Christianity is; the idea that the spotless Son of God came and paid for the sins of the whole world, and we need to nothing other than accept that gift to be accepted into his kingdom.

All these other things, these debates about predestination, music styles in churches, church size, they're all silly arguments over things that, in the end, do not truly matter. We've all supposedly come together for the love of Jesus, so why are we quibbling over trivial window dressing?