On Facebook recently one of my friends posted the following:
"I just ordered a chicken and an egg from Amazon. I'll let you know."
For those who have not yet had enough coffee this morning, this post was a droll reference to that old adage/question: "Which came first: the chicken or the egg?"
This reminds me of the conundrum, the second paradox, revealed in John 15:16-17. Take a look at verses 11-17:
“I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. 12 This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you slaves anymore, because a slave doesn’t know what his master[b] is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from My Father. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you. I appointed you that you should go out and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. 17 This is what I command you: Love one another.
"You are my friends, if you do what I command you", Jesus said. Jesus' commands to His followers are not mere suggestions. He is the second Person of the Holy Trinity, not some weak "good teacher". When He commands us to do something, it is not negotiable. We are His disciples, but He also calls us His friends.
Now we come to verse 16. "You did not choose me, but I chose and appointed you to go fulfill a specific purpose in my kingdom." Now, some adherents of the doctrine of "predestination" or "election" would have us believe that this statement (and other similar statements in Scripture) indicates we have no choice in our decision to accept Jesus - - - that there are those who are going to become Christians, no matter what, and that there are those who are doomed to Hell, no matter what.
Friends, this just flies in the face of both common sense and also the doctrine of grace that pervades God's Word in the New Testament!
The doctrinal "common ground" for me between these two seemingly contradictory positions is the teaching about God's sovereignty - - - His "All-Knowingness". One of my favorite passages of Scripture that speaks to His knowing all things is Isaiah 46:9-10.
I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me.
10
I make known the end from the beginning,
from ancient times, what is still to come.
He knows all things. Therefore, while we are all given a choice whether or not to choose Jesus as Savior or to choose to follow Him daily, He knows beforehand what our individual choices will be.
That makes perfect sense to me, and I'm very comfortable with that belief. It is consistent with the grace of God which compelled Him to die for us and His unchangeable characteristic of knowing all things, past, present and future.
So, which came first, the chicken or the egg? Amazon has nothing to do with the answer.
What we need to focus on, as opposed to focusing on pointless arguments, is that our Savior has appointed us to:
1. abide in Him
2. bear spiritual fruit
3. love one another
That should keep us busy enough and too busy to argue over chickens, eggs or anything else, for that matter.
Dear Lord, thank you for giving me the honor of becoming Your child, for "choosing" me by knowing from the very beginning of creation what my decision would ultimately be. My desire today is to abide in You and bear much fruit for You, by loving others in Your name. In Jesus' name, amen.
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