Predestination Essay

As the universe dawned into existence the Divine Creator saw into a future filled with human tragedy, rebellion and sin. In this future he saw each and every individual who would ever live. He saw them not as one might see a stranger in the crowd or even as a casual meeting but rather he saw every moment of every person’s life. Even understanding every thought, emotion and answering every prayer in his own way. God saw that none of us would deserve his love. That each of us sin every day and deserve an eternity without his everlasting love and only one of the justice we deserve. Yet God loved us too much to let us rot in our own cesspool of destruction. As the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 2: “But because of his great love for us God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dean in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” We have grace from God so we need not fear his wrath or punishment for our sins.
God knew for the beginning of time those would experience his wonderful gift of forgiveness. In fact God chose who would be with him in heaven. Ephesians 1:4-6 “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves.” God not only knew who would receive his salvation, he chose them. From this one might try to logically conclude that because God chose those who would receive grace he must have also chosen those who would receive justice. Yet this thought may seem to make sense to the logical mind, one must realize that the human mind cannot possibly fathom the inner workings of God. God taught a similar lesson to Job: Job 38:2-3 “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you and you will answer me.” We can be sure that God did not choose people to go to hell because no where does the Bible say this. On this matter the Bible only tells that God chose us and sent his Son to save us.
God did not predestine us for any reason other than his love and grace. There is nothing we can do to work toward God’s grace or earn the Lord’s love. Paul explains this in 1 Corinthians 15:10 “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” One important thing to notice about this passage is that it explains our motivation for doing good works. Paul does not tell us to work hard for God’s grace. Rather, Paul tells us that what motivates good works is God’s grace flowing through us. After all, the creator and lord over the entire universe willingly sacrificed his own son that we could be saved. How can such love not flow through us in our every action? God chose us to be his not for our works, not for our choices, not even for our good looks but simply and purely because of his love.