2 Peter 1:4

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

I’ve asked our Sunday School class a few times over the years what would each of us choose if God were to give us either a guaranteed 20 years of remaining life or what He has already been preordained for our life? There are many considerations like a person’s current age or current health. If a person were 80 years old, he or she would most likely choose another 20 healthy years. Conversely, a healthy 20 year old would select the latter choice of unknowing. We play the odds and think a 20 year old has decades of life remaining. What if the 20 years of extra life was to be spent in a bedridden condition.?

What if the same type of question was given to us before we started a golf round? We could have what we would have shot anyway or take an 80 without swinging a club. Irrespective of our golf skill, most of us would take our chances and take the opportunity to play a round of golf. It is more about the journey than the outcome. Our Christian life is one in which we know the outcome, but the journey is dependent upon our choices. We have the promise of His guidance during this journey and the great promise of a realized ultimate salvation.

We don’t have to wonder about what God has planned for the life of the believer. He has given His people the promises of forgiveness, grace, mercy, eternal salvation, redemption, sanctification and a heavenly abode. We don’t fully know the exact extent or the precise nature of any of these promises, yet we must claim them each day. It’s like trying to tell someone how to hit a golf ball. There are proven techniques, but much of the success is by instinct and feel. I depend on it, but don’t really know how the brain and body can coordinate to hit a small ball with so many moving parts.

The Holy Spirit enables the believer with a new desire and instinct. We can’t go by fleshly “feeling” because this can be manipulated, but the Spirit gives us an upgraded instinct by His guiding. These promises are guaranteed to believer by the Word of God. Further, the will of God is given to us by His Word. If any of our desires or opinions are contrary to His Word, they are thus against His will. It’s that easy.

We are finite beings who are constantly being shaped and formed by the Heavenly Father, but we are never able to fully grasp the goodness and sovereignty of our infinite God. Our reform does not come through the corruption of worldly lusts. Our true contentment is only available through the Almighty. We should have the mindset written long ago in the book “The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment” that “I labour to do what pleases God, and I labour that what God does, shall please me; here is a Christian indeed, that shall endeavour both these.” If God’s in it, the matter must be beneficial and necessary for our growth for His dependence. There is no true risk involved abiding in His will.