What Predestination means for us
Predestination means God determines the fate of all things. Predestination involves shaping the actions and circumstances of men. How life actually unfolds for people are always in God’s hands. To man belongs the plans of the heart, but the Lord always determines his steps. We are God’s poem created to do certain good works which God created for us to do beforehand that we should walk in them. In his book they were all written, the days fashioned for us before they ever came to be. The decision of man’s lot is from the Lord. God works everything out for his own ends. No wisdom or insight can succeed against the Lord. The Lord will always fulfill his purpose. Can any man really understand his own way? God also has foreknowledge to anticipate how people will choose. There is not a thought or a word on our tongue that God does not know altogether. He examines all our paths and searches out all of our inmost being. Our hearts and motives are laid bare before him. If God delights in his way, He makes his steps firm. God always provide a way of deliverance for his people. To those who love Him and intend to persevere, God sets an open door of Salvation that no one can shut. If you love God and want to be saved, God will ensure that you make it. All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. No one can be snatched out of his hand. His people can take comfort in the fact that God will not lose any of those who are his. Once you are saved, you are always saved.
Where Predestination ends
God may work out all the circumstances that you may seek him and perhaps find him, but that is where Predestination ends. God may open a door of salvation to you that no one can shut, but you still have to walk thru that door. God will not make you a robot; He will not make the choice for you. God’s will is that all men be saved, but not everyone will. Satan may want all men to fall, but not everyone will. The Devil made me do it argument will not absolve you of your moral responsibility- your choice. Predestination does not imply God is a fatalist. Fatalism implies that what happens is somehow the only path that can happen. This implies a person has no choice. God will not determine your choices for you. A loving God will not violate your heart and free-will. The choice to do other than what we did always existed. Temptation always provides the opportunity to do what is wrong. Conviction always provides the opportunity to do what is right. Man’s will can be influenced but never controlled. For a loving God has granted man the gift of free will. The same light that softens some, hardens others. If you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. The potter shapes best what He can with the clay He is working with. He makes the best out of what your free-will allows. Personal beliefs may set the course of your life, but beliefs in themselves do not have to be set in stone. Our own volition always makes us morally responsible for our own actions.
What Free-will means for us
God does not lose any of those who choose him. However, God will not take any of those who reject him. You must draw near to God for Him to draw near to you. If you are not saved, it is because you are not willing. Christians are saved from apostasy, not despite it. A person’s character is always known by their deeds. If you fall away, you only prove you never had it to begin with. Atonement may be extended to all but it is only granted to those who are found in Jesus Christ. God does not show favoritism. He died for everyone, not just a selected few. God’s ways are the best and highest ways if men would only choose to be open to seeing it. Depraved man may be unable to appreciate salvation on his own, but that does not mean He is not afforded the opportunity for salvation. What is impossible with men becomes possible with God. We do not earn salvation, but the opportunity for the free gift is always available. However, we do have the freedom to choose it or not. Because it is unconditional, does not mean nothing need be done on our part.
Where Free-will ends
Man is free to think and feel as He wills, but that is where man’s free-will ends. His actual steps and what He actually gets to accomplish in life are determined by the Lord. You may have control over your heart but not your actions. Free-will does not make a man the captain of his own ship. His own life and what He will do is not really in his own hands. In his heart a man may plan his course, but the Lord actually determines his steps. We do not know what will happen tomorrow. For tomorrow is not in our hands. No man knows how many days He has left. No man has control over when He dies. Because God always determines the outcome of your very life, there is always wisdom in acknowledging Him.
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