To elaborate on how important one person is, look at this example. Thomas Edison put electricity into practical use, but most important is his invention of the incandescent light. He did this well over one-hundred years ago and we're still using exactly what he invented with some slight improvements I might add! Most of all that I've ever learned has been under the light of Edison's idea. I never had to read by the flickering light of the fire, but Edison made it easy. His lamp burns uniformly and cleanly. It's ideal for seeing in the dark!
But what if even one of Edison's antecedents wasn't there? In 30 generations there are multi-millions of possible ancestors if there were no intermarriages. In ten generations Edison had 1,024 ancestors providing they were all discreet. If any one of these 1024 had died without issue our their child aborted, Thomas Edison would not have been nor would the incandescent light have been invented at that time! Looking back 30 generations when Edison had millions of ancestors (endless genealogies) if any one of them had been plucked from the divine plan, then the plan would have failed and we could still be in the dark!
Applying the same logic to Jesus, if one of his maternal ancestors had been non-entities, then Mary the righteous virgin would not have been there to bear the Messiah, and if that were true, then Jesus would still be Messiah rather than Savior! Jesus was in the plan too! Without Edison there is not light, but without Jesus there would be no Light! It's possible that we would still be spiritually in darkness.
Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV) "I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."Does God wait for us to be before he plans for us? In his divine plan, as all good plans are, your destiny was planned before you even were:
Jeremiah 1:5 (ESV) “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you..." referring to Jeremiah who is no different than us!We are all part of God's divine plan. I see life through "lenses of hope". I recognize that I'm planned, not necessarily by my parents, but part of the divine plan. I'm here where I am now because that's where God wants me to be! Each keystroke is a product of what God allows. He knew that I would write of his glory and he knew that thousands of years ago! I'm writing this because it's part of God's divine plan. When what I write reaches each person it has a cause and effect. It can either produce "good" results or "bad".
The other day my writing produced a bad result. My intent was for a person to think on their spiritual condition and seek him. Instead of compliance I received, not only rejection, but anger! That's not what I wanted, but since God is the author of all that we do, he "allowed" undesired consequences. We can ask why God allows "bad' things, but he does. It's because he made us with our own will. Even when the person was angered, God allowed the anger!
It may be that a seed was planted in a field of anger and this anger will continually remind the person and get saved someday. Or it could be that the person has rejected God for the last time and is now reprobate. It's not for me to decide, but whichever it is, it's part of God's plan. Yes, we are all predestined to be children of God, but that reflects only on God's desire that we all choose him over the world.
This is an example of my view through the "lenses of hope"! It's a view where God is in charge of his Kingdom and although I'm a subject of the king, he still rules! On the other hand some wear "world tinted glasses". People who wear those glasses may not even read scripture. In all their self-wisdom they conclude what's "good" on what they want to be "good". Generally speaking, for them, everything is good as long as they have pleasure and no one immediately dies as a result! Everyone does what is right in their own eyes (Judges 17:6). Those people aren't playing with a full deck because they haven't read the Scripture, they've only perceived it to be what they want it to be:
Proverbs 12:15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.Clarifying a little for those "wisdom challenged" this means that if you do what's perceived as right in your "world tinted lenses", your're an idiot! Just because a person can't conceive of being wrong, doesn't make that person right! That's pride and foolish... "foolish pride".
People can see the world with 20/20 vision, but cannot see truth. What's the cure for "blinded by the world"? It's "hope tinted glasses". What's the Rx for "blindness of the world"? The lenses for those "glasses of hope" is Holy Scripture. As you read more and more your vision of the world becomes more distorted, but the view of truth is seen clearly! The world is not as you see it, but is as God planned it. With those new glasses a true view of the world is clearly seen! It's not one of happiness and pleasure, but is a place for learning the will of God! It's not your home, but prepares every person for an eternal home! One may refuse "hope tinted glasses" and be content with those "world tinted". What they see is eternal prosperity, but those glass distort truth.
"World tinted glasses" lie. Eternity isn't heaven or even the grave. For those who use those glasses the true view is damnation and agony. With "hope tinted glasses" we can see Paradise! We see ourselves there in joy and awe that we are finally standing there before our creator! Choose your glasses wisely! Be selective which Rx you're using. Some will cheat you outright because their proprietor means to defraud the maker of the lenses. Read the prescription before you pick the wrong glasses!
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