Graced!

Most of the time, people become a part of some great plan because of their talent, their intelligence, their skill or their hard work. NASA does not look over its list of candidates and then select several of them for the space program just on the basis of grace. I would doubt that NASA has the word “grace” in their vocabulary. You will also not find it in the policy manuals of the Fortune 500 companies or the National Football League. Who ever drew a starting assignment for a Super Bowl contender on the basis of grace?

Through Heaven's Eyes

                        [In Ephesians] As Paul praises God, he focuses on the way he has “blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” Paul was writing this from prison, where he was held in chains (Ephesians 6:20), but these circumstances did not quench his spirit of praise. Paul understood the difference between what goes on in this world and what is true in the “heavenly realms.” The Romans might lock him up; he might be mistreated; he might suffer greatly; but no physical circumstances could deprive him of the all-important spiritual benefits he had because he was in Christ.

A Plan or a Roll of the Dice?

Seven billion people now live on this planet. Each day they go in at least seven billion directions. There is no shortage of activity in our world. It is one busy place. But is there a plan? Is there any purpose behind the universe? Are we here for a reason? Did someone put us here who had a plan for our lives? When we ask such questions we are wrestling with one of the greatest philosophical and spiritual issues of all time.

A number of years ago, I came across the writings of the French biochemist and some-time philosopher, Jacques Monod. He taught that life is just one big cosmic accident. He says we are here simply because our number came up in a Monte Carlo game. Although he admits that the universe is amazingly ordered and complex and that realities like the genetic code perplex him (translation: create problems for his philosophy), Monod does not believe that there ever was a plan. Everything you see around you, he says, is purely the result of chance.

On the other hand, Michael Turner, a physicist at the University of Chicago, has described the odds of the universe just coming into being by chance and then not collapsing back on itself. He argues that this would be about the same odds as one would have if he tried to throw an imaginary microscopic dart across the universe to the most distant object we know (a quasar) in order to hit a bull’s-eye that is only one millimeter in diameter. It doesn’t sound like he thought too much of the “it just happened by accident” idea.

Of course, as Christians, we are not left just to conclude that there is a plan from what we see in the creation. God has sent prophets and apostles¾and his own Son¾to reveal to us plainly what that plan is and how we fit into it. The Letter to the Ephesians is a most important New Testament document because it deals specifically with this theme. It is all about God’s plan.

Life is not a collection of meaningless accidents. There is a reason for our existence. Life is a gift. It has come to us not by chance, but because God has chosen to give it us. And in the letter to Ephesians, we will find God’s perfect plan for us—imperfect people. Stay with us.

What Will You Do?

“What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?” Pilate asked.

Matthew 27:22

 What will you do with this Jesus? If he does not already have you, there is every indication that he still has some plan to offer you God’s extravagant generosity. It is evident that he is not going to go away. Two thousand years later, he is still showing up. How many attempts to reach you has he made in your life? You can avoid him for a while, but sooner or later he shows up again. There he is now, working afresh in an old friend you never thought was interested much in religion. There he is at a funeral for a coworker, his words tugging at your heart. There he is in a stranger who befriends you and then invites you to something that has do with him.