DESTINY: (1) something to which a person or thing is destined: fortune; (2) a predetermined course of events often held to be an irresistible power or agency
“Destiny” assumes that something is fixed, immovable, a “personal” cosmic plan that can’t be resisted, an “irresistible power or agency.” In other words, you can’t avert your destiny or else it’s not your destiny. Follow?
Though Christians throw that term around around a lot, I’m beginning to wonder whether or not the biblical concept of destiny isn’t different from the traditional interpretation.
Thought: The Bible presents a picture of destiny that is both static and fluid; it is set but it can be averted.
Yes, God says He chose His children “before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4), nevertheless, we are encouraged to “make [our] calling and election sure” (II Pet. 1:10). God says He is not willing for any to perish (II Pet. 3:9), but some do. Jesus stood before Jerusalem and wept because He wanted to gather them to Himself like a mother hen does her brood, but they “were not willing” (Luke 13:34). Point is: God chooses certain things for us, and we don’t always comply.
Just take a look at your own life. Were you destined to be where you’re at right now? Has a “predetermined course of events” brought you to where you’re at? Or have your decisions and choices played a part? And is there anything you can do to change that?
I think the answer is both Yes and No. Take for instance this classic Bible verse:
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. — Philippians 3:12 NIV
Notice that there is both a taking hold of and a being taken hold of. Divine and Human agencies seem to intertwine. God called the apostle Paul and Paul “pressed on” to fully “obtain” that call. So in this sense, destiny is both something that found him and something he searched out.
There is a temptation when discussing this issue to choose theological sides. I think that’s dangerous. Holding opposing truths in tension is a very biblical concept. I think that applies here.
I believe it was Dwight Moody who described it thus: The sign over the doorway to heaven reads, “Whosoever will, let him come” (Rev. 22:17). But from the inside of heaven the same sign reads, “Chosen before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4). Free will and predestination work together in a mysterious way. Only from “the inside” will we get a better view.
So Scripture seems to make a case that God chooses, and so do we. Destiny is both something that finds me, and something I set out to find. Overemphasizing either “truth” potentially leaves one imbalanced.
Your thoughts?
Not only are tensions a reality in every honest Christian’s life, they are also for our good. Unfortunately too many of us either deny, ignore, or fight against those tensions. Along with Moody, Charles Spurgeon (a definite Calvinist) once prayed, “Save all the elect here today and then elect some more.” It would seem this surrender to mystery would be embraced by writers among all people. Some of the greatest stories are ruined when we as writers can’t resist the urge to wrap it all up in a neat package at the end. The Bible is the greatest suspense story ever written. The Apostle Paul was left for dead, saw things beyond the veil of this life, and then declared much of what he saw was “unlawful” to write. Like Paul, we as belivers know what the ending will be yet so much of life, how and why God works the way he does, and our own fallen heart still baffles us. There is absolute certainty and yet profound ambiguity.
To those who think they have it all wrapped up in a neat package I recommend Deut. 29:29.
Mike, as I started reading your post, Phil. 3:12 came to mind. I like the NASV phrasing “I press on that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.” It shows me as active (“I lay hold”) and as passive (“I was laid hold of”). The thing is, there’s a host of other verses throughout Scripture that support this both/and understanding. Thanks for spelling it out so clearly.
Becky
I am confused. I am lost. We live in a frightening world. How do we use the moment we have right now? How do we savor that moment? Life is given only once to us on this earth. How do find the passion we once had and never to loose it again. I am so desperate for realness. What do I mean? Well, when a person who comes into a church or a church event, he or she is not embraced with that unconditional love. This is an example of many people who experience this in God’s church. It saddens my heart. I love the Lord with all my heart. We need to remember how Jesus was toward others. May God have mercy on us. We should laown backs and take this no more. This is not about me. It is about what I see in the body of Christ. We need to rise up spiritually and have spiritual anger to fight the enemy. I am sick of seeing judgment passed down by man. That job is for God! We can longer say we are a victim of the enemy. Pick yourself up and fight. Grab your full armor of God and fight! We are warriors of God. There are times when we wait too. Pray, seek, and listen to the Lord. He will tell you when to pick up your sword.
I’m reflecting on “free will and predestination work together in a mysterious way.” If I am open and in communion with God, these two merge together. Is it “the horse before the cart or the cart before the horse?” Who knows! Somehow over the years, I’ve seen my strengths and challenges birth creative choices which manifest in my life. Even if I did all I could to wrench open a closed door, it remains closed. Do I continue to beat my head against it in frustration? No, I go to a door that opens more easily as the one fraught with obstacles in that moment in time is not meant to be. As long as I keep my heart, will and way aligned to that of God’s, the path of least resistance which I see as His divine will opens before me.
1John 4:4 “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” To me this suggests that we are destined to become like God, but that we must first realize who we are – children of God. And like a child is destined to grow up to be like his or her parents. We have the potential to be like God. But like a seed isn’t destined to become a tree without nourishment, we are no more destined if we are not nourished. But if we grasp the realization of this promise – which is the promise of Christ through His atonement and faith in Christ to become part of Gods family – in this life and in the next. However, if someone fails to have faith in Christ, then they fail to accept the idea that they have potential to become God-like. Belief is spiritual nourishment.
Who accomplished anything they didn’t first believe? How many examples are there of people who truly believed in something and didn’t somehow realize their belief? Destiny is anything that you truly believe. Christ teaches that we should believe in him – that we may become Gods’. It is a destiny that will find us, if we truly believe it.