Monday, September 12, 2016

Devotion - Monday, September 12

In the interim, I have taken on a few more parish duties at UniLu. One of these was to teach yesterday's final session of Confirmation Ministry.  We were considering the Small Catechism.  

One of the students asked about predestination.  

Her question included what I want to say first - that within the Christian family, some hold a firm commitment to predestination.  Among us Christians, there is a variety of ways of speaking of such things.

This morning, the appointed Bible readings brought me back to this topic.  First, from Acts 13:44-52 I read of the reaction to the preaching of Paul and Barnabas.  The text says, "As many as were ordained to eternal life believed."  This sure seems to support the notion that some were set aside (perhaps from the beginning of time, maybe from the day of their birth) to be counted among the faithful.  My reluctance to think that our salvation is predestined is challenged by these verses.

We should be careful in allowing a verse in a book of the Bible to be interpreted by a verse in another book of the Bible, but I was also directed this morning to John 10:19-30.  In verse 30 I find a thought which does inform my thinking about Acts 13.

Jesus is speaking, and he says, "no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand."

What if the assurance that those who are "ordained to eternal life" is a way of acknowledging that those who are among Christ's followers are safe and secure and can never be snatched away?  What if, from the beginning of time, even before the name of Jesus was spoken, God had previously determined that no one would be left in the dark and separated from the joy of knowing the Christ?

Many hold to a notion of predestination that I find uncomfortable.  I cannot fathom some being destined to damnation.  However, I pray that I will not let my discomfort blind me from the wisdom and truth of scripture.  And I hope that I am not doing incredible mental gymnastics to twist my way around all of this.  But I do not find it possible to think that anyone is outside the reach of God's forgiveness and salvation.  I do find it absolutely true that God's protection of me prevents me from being snatched away, lured away from God's Word and the community with bears God's name.

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