who decides the important stuff?

How is it that most of us who believe in free will also tend to believe that “God has a wonderful plan for our lives”? Our eternal destiny is up to us, while God controls the less important details, like where we go to college, who we marry, what jobs we take. Then we need to pray to discern what He decides about these smaller issues. On a practical level it doesn’t look like free will at all – God’s the one making all the daily decisions for us, and we’re left trying to figure out what He’s deciding.

On the other hand, those of us who believe in predestination also tend to believe God leaves us to make the smaller decisions ourselves. While He has complete control over our eternal destiny, He expects us to grow in wisdom and maturity as we freely choose to use our talents and opportunities to serve Him. On a day-to-day level it doesn’t look like predestination at all – it looks like we have the responsibility and freedom to navigate our lives as we will.

What a paradox! When we believe in free will, we believe that we make only the One Important Decision, and we end up living under a deterministic God who controls every other facet of our lives. When we believe in predestination, we believe that God makes the One Important Decision for us, then raises us like children, entrusting us to make wise choices and rejoicing when we freely elect to serve Him.

Thank you, Lord, for the astounding liberty You give us by securing eternity for us, then allowing us to walk beside You in freedom and in love.