Last night, Rhonda and I went to see True Grit. Prior to the movie, we again saw the following preview for The Adjustment Bureau...
Matt Damon's character had been given a plan that was not to be altered. He meets a young woman that will change his "plan" and the bureau must not allow that to happen, for they are the keepers of the "plan." Do you see God as the ultimate adjustment bureau? Do you believe he has a detailed plan for your life that could be derailed at any moment, should you make a wrong decision? What if you married the wrong person? What if you took the wrong job or went to the wrong college? What if you turned right instead of left?
Paul is showing us that God does not function this way. He had a plan for Jacob and Esau that could not be thwarted by their decisions. His plan was not dependent on what they did or didn't do. His plan for them was a sure thing determined by his decision, flowing steadily from his initiative.
These twins were born from Isaac and Rebecca, both children of the promise. Shouldn't they have received equal standing? Why was one predestined to serve the other? This is a bit disconcerting. After their life is shown for what it is, why does God later say, "I loved Jacob; I hated Esau." My son would say, "God, we are not apposed to say 'hate'."
I have to admit that this passage is problematic for me. On one hand I don't like the idea that my lot has been cast for me. I want to know that my decisions are making some sort of impact in my life. Is Paul saying that we have no free will? On the other hand, I also like the idea of living in the comfort of God's plan for me, which is not at all contingent on my choices. Is Paul saying we are protected from our free will? Does the same intention God took in the lives of Jacob and Esau hold true for everyone, or was this just in the establishing of the promise that God took such interest in these boys?
What have you been taught? What do you believe today? We can't just skip over the hard parts, can we?
I've been taught that we all have free will; a choice in what we believe and do - but God knows what we will choose and that He can take our screwups and still accomplish His plan for our lives.
ReplyDeleteI also believe that He has the right, because He is God, to create people for His purposes. Some of those purposes include people that do really bad things (Hitler, et al) and represent the "other side" between good and evil, chosen and unchosen. I don't know how He deals with them after life, but I don't worry about them. In a weird sort of way, I wonder if they are kind of like androids, or "role" players that had to take on the body of a human to accomplish God's ultimate plan of grace and eternal fellowship with Him.(OK now I am officially weird, sorry... it should not have come as a surprise).
Stan
Stan, it would be easy if those "role" players were androids or that they didn't have souls. Unfortunately I still believe they are people just like you and me who were created in the image of God and loved intensely by a God who just might have chosen them to be on the "other side". I have never thought about how they might be judged after life, though. You have opened up another door for me here.
ReplyDeleteIf I am called into a relationship with him, I will be judged according to whether or not I am faithful to that calling. If I were called to be the evil in someone else's plan, would I be judged according to whether or not I was faithful to that calling too? Wow...thanks, Stan.