Living Our Manuscript of Life

Verses:  Ephesians 1:1-14

My thoughts about the verses:

Throughout the Bible there is a sense that we have to accept the grace of God to walk in the inheritance of love and grace.  In this first part of Paul’s letter he addresses the issue much differently.  He says that we are the chosen people who had been predestined to come to Christ because of God’s love.

II want to spend a few minutes on the term predestined.  This word can cause a lot of chaos in the world of Christianity.  We are taught that we receive salvation because we love God.  We are told once that we accept the fact that Jesus died for our sins and arose from the grave victorious our gift is everlasting life.  If this is so how can it be predetermined who will accept Christ.  Would this not make our choice to accept Christ unimportant?

I grew up in a very strict Baptist Church.  Being the rambunctious student of the Bible predestination was one of the hard things for me accept.  Yet, this is my personal opinion of predestination and how it fits into our own personal choice.  First we must accept that God is omnipotent.  God knows all things, created all things, and loves all things.  In understanding this we can come to the conclusion that God knows what our choice will be when we are given the opportunity to accept Jesus.

I compare it to the reader of a really good book.  As you are reading the story you start to feel how the plot will go.  As you are reading you come to figure out you start to figure out what is going to happen before it ever happens.  Even though the book may have unexpected twist an turns we know for most purposes that the hero or heroine will make it to the end of the book.  So as we are reading we are getting more information on the one that we assume will come out in the good.  We turn each page learning more and more about the person. 

In my eyes our life is written into the book of life before we ever start.  Yet, we are presented with twist and turns that we can choose to be the hero/heroine or the bad guy.  God flips the page and lets us continue on our life without trying to change our mind.  Yet, in the end God knows who will come to accept.  When we come to the end of our lives God has read our book which he wrote and watched us do exactly what was written.  Yet, it is our free will to do those things.  God doesn’t force us to make decisions the choice is truly our own.

Prayer:

We praise you omnipotent God for your love.  We praise you for the opportunity to accept Jesus in our life.  We thank you for the free will that you have given us.  We think you for the gift of salvation.  We ask that you walk with us and help us live the life that will bring great joy to you.  In the name of the Almighty God we pray.  Amen

Questions:

Have you accepted Jesus in your life?  As God turns the page of your manuscript are you one of the chosen?  What do you need do to today to write a positive twist into the manuscript of your own life?