Day 58

Of God’s Decree

Chapter 3, Paragraph 3.

“…others being left to act in their sin to their just condemnation, to the praise of His glorious justice.”

Scripture Lookup

Romans 9:22,23.

Jude 4.

Reflection

Predestination. The word goes against all our notions of fairness and equality. The playing field should be level, right?

We look at the fact that some are predestined for eternal life, and we rightfully praise God for his grace. But if some are predestined to eternal life, then the opposite is true: there are those who are not, and they will be condemned. Immediately we have a knee-jerk reaction that this seems unfair. But is this reaction a right one?

To view predestination as unfair is to view life from our perspective, rather than what God reveals to us. First, we forget what we know about God. He is just. He is holy. He has all goodness in Himself. Nothing He does is unjust, because it goes against who He is!

We also do not realize the extent of sin. The unbeliever who, by our standards is the most wonderful, kind, and loving person we know, is still condemned as he has broken God’s law. God cannot be in the presence of sin.

Our reaction is also ultimately selfish. Our cry of unfairness seems to only apply to those we like. Notice that some angels are predestined to eternal life, and some who are condemned. Yet we do not react with a cry of “Unfair!” when hearing about fallen angels. So when we look at predestination, our ultimate source needs to be the Scriptures. They are clear: God has decreed that some will be left in their sin and condemned justly.

This realization that predestination is a true doctrine is tested when our beliefs are lived out. To embrace the doctrine of predestination, I had to admit that loved ones who died without claiming Christ did not posses eternal life, and that God had decreed it. It was crushing. I had to decide if I would accept what the Bible says, or what my heart wanted to believe. This must happen with every truth we learn in the Scripture. Do we trust that God’s Word is true?

What will you believe?

Questions to Consider

• Does the fact that some are left in their sin offend you, or humble you ?