As I walked out of Bible class this morning a young lady – actually she was kind of middle aged, but don’t tell her I said so – asked me if I believed in predestination or free will. I was quiet for a moment as I pondered her question and wondered if I should say anything.
I asked her if she thought a person’s salvation had any relationship to whether she shared the gospel with that person or not. I asked her to consider two people, both who heard the gospel many times during their lives. One becomes a believer and the other doesn’t. I asked her if she knew why. Why does one person believe and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior and another doesn’t, even though they both heard the message?
Every person born physically deserves to spend eternity in Hell. That is fairness, that is justice, because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). But then we read that “[some] are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit” and “has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:1 – 3, NASB). A child does not choose to be born physically. Its parents make that choice. They may even choose abortion. The fact that you were born physically was not your choice. Whether you like it or not, you happened and you were given temporary physical life.
What makes you think you have any more choice when it comes to spiritual birth? If you decide not to be born spiritually and I decide to, what was there about me that I would choose “yes” and you chose “no”? What was the source of that difference; that cause? Was it related to the work of humans or God? “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8, NASB).
Do you say that God chooses everyone and offers everyone the gift of salvation? That is not what I see as I serve in Asia. It seems to me that “many are called [invited], but few are chosen” (Mt. 22:14, NASB). When you or I give someone a gift, we choose who to give the gift to. Does God have that choice?
The Bible tells us to witness; to share the gospel. If God does the choosing then why do we need to witness? Once I understood the answer to that question I was able to put to rest this issue of predestination versus free will. Our job is to find those the Father has chosen and help them understand the way of salvation and when they are finally ready the Father causes them to be born again and whether you like it or not God has promised that he will conform you to the image of his Son (Romans 8:28 – 29).
I cannot find words worthy to express my thanks to Father for choosing me. The closer I walk with him the more I realize there was nothing about me that helped me choose when someone else didn’t. If I did have that “quality” to choose that someone else didn’t then I ask, “Where did it came from?” What was its source? I believe that God does the choosing, but he expects us to help find those he chose. Some may even come through the work of the Spirit alone.
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