The
Overall Plan
Have you ever wondered what the
overall plan of the universe is?
Well, I have, and I have come to the following conclusions, for what
it's worth:
1. There is a God, and He is
knowable because He is able to
interact with the biggest of big things, and the smallest of small
things, since He created all things, visible and invisible.
2. His plan for creation is all
beings might know Him, from the
least to the greatest, and that we might live in communion with Him for
eternity.
3. God really is Love, but He
is also a Consuming Fire. He
loves righteousness, and He hates 'iniquity', which is 'lawlessness',
which is 'lovelessness'. I deduce this from the fact that He has
given only two laws: A. Love Him with all one's heart and soul
and mind and strength, and B. Love one another equally.
4. God grades us on a pass/fail
basis, not on a curse. We
all assume that He grades on a curse, but He does not. That would
allow us to look down on some, but pass/fail does not allow that luxury.
5. One major factor of His love
for creation is that He gives us
free will, and He respects our free will. As a result, He is
often criticized for not doing what we expect God to do, but the fact
is that He waits for us to call upon Him. "Whoever calls upon the
Name of the Lord will be saved". "If we seek Him with our whole
heart we will find Him."
6. We all have a call on our
lives. That call is an upward
call from God through His Son, Jesus Christ. It is always upward,
without plateaus, but we tend to want plateaus of comfort where we can
settle and live for ourselves rather than for Him. This is an
indication of a condition called 'sin' in our lives, which consists of
'missing the mark, and must be remedied by one being born again of the
Spirit of God rather than of the 'flesh' - which is the nominal nature
of mankind which is separated and independent from God.
7. God has made every provision
for His creation to be reconciled
with Him, but He waits for those who want to be reconciled to come to
Him for reconciliation. He usually chooses at least one person in
each generation to being that calling process, and trusts that person
and whoever else responds to Him to continue the invitation to be
reconciled with God. God is looking for a combination of His
calling to each person, and the response of a called person to
Him. Once He finds that combination He nurtures the
reconciliation process.
8. Eventually there will be a new
heaven and a new earth, in which
dwells righteousness, and no unrighteousness. In essence all of
creation will be 'born again'!! Or at least all of repentant
creation will be born again.
9. In the meantime those who
are responding to God's calling, and
those who are rejecting God's calling are stuck together with each
other. Eventually God will separate the righteous from the
unrighteous, or as the Scriptures say, 'He will separate the sheep from
the goats'.
10. There has been a lot of
controversy about whether people have a
freedom to choose God, or whether some are 'chosen' and 'called' and
others are not. I believe that God has chosen to call everyone,
but has left us free to chose to respond toward Him or to continue our
own paths. So, all are 'chosen', but all are free to
choose. 'Many are called, but few are chosen.'
11. Whether there is only one
final separation of 'the sheep'
from 'the goats' is unknown to me, but I suspect that there are a
series of refining processes by which people are brought into
circumstances which require them to choose to go onward and upward with
God, or to stop the upward trek in a comfort zone of their
choice. The refining process is known as 'sanctification',
meaning 'making holy'. Each step in this process involves dying
to self and being transformed to live more for God. The grace to
do so is supplied by Jesus Christ, Who died for all and rose again that
we might no longer live for ourselves, but for God.
12. Failure to pursue the
upward call of God through Christ Jesus
is disobedience toward God and rebellion against Him, Who wants the
best for us as we want the best for Him and the rest of His
creation. It is an indication of lack of love for one to refuse
or discontinue the upward call of God.
I hope that my thoughts on this
ultimate subject will give you food for
thought as well, dear reader!