Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight [or will direct your paths]"¹

A Daily Encounter reader writes, "In a recent daily devotional you talked about free will vs. predestination. Do you think that it is predestined by God whom we marry?"

Dear Anita (name changed), one way to think of predestination is as follows: imagine that your life here is like being on a train. Because you have accepted Jesus as your Savior the train you are on represents God's overall plan for your life. God is taking that train all the way to your final pre-determined destination which is heaven. However,  while on the pre-destination train, you have free will to choose to stay in one carriage or move from carriage to carriage … you can eat at which eating places you choose … dress the way you choose … sit with whom you choose … choose which educational classes you will attend … choose what kind of work you want to do and are best equipped for … choose which church you attend … make friends with whom you choose … and marry whom you choose.

In all of life's choices if we genuinely seek God's will, he will give us guidance, wisdom and direction, but he won't violate our free will and make our decisions or choices for us. If he did, he would be keeping us over dependent and immature. With many of life's options we need to choose wisely because we will reap the benefits/consequences of the choices we makeâ€"be they good or bad.

Because God's gift of forgiveness of sins and his invitation to heaven is to "whoever will may come" we can choose to board the "train" that is predestined for eternal life in heaven. Or by default we can choose to stay on the "train" that is predestined for eternal death and separation from God, the author of all love and life.

So whatever you do, choose today which "train" you are going to board. For Help see "How to Know God and be sure you're a real Christian without having to be religious" online at:  http://tinyurl.com/real-christian.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you that you have given me the choice to accept your forgiveness for all my sins with the gift of eternal life in heaven. This is what I choose. Please help me to do this. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

1. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV).

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