God Has No Adjustment Bureau
If you believe in free will…
If you believe in chance…
If you believe in choice…
Fight for it.
So…do you? Of course if you believe that God doesn't exist and human beings are soul-less products of undirected evolution, then you truly don't have any of those things. If that definition of us is correct, then choice is simply an illusion, since all we are is a collection of chemical reactions and survival of the fittest.
But deep down you sense that isn't true…don't you? You are not just a physical machine that plays no significant role in the universe. You are self-aware and conscious of your spiritual side, because that is who you truly are: an ever living never dying work of art created by the God who spoke reality into existence with just a single word. You've been given complete free will, and life is filled with opportunities to exercise our free will choices.
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Unless, of course, you are Matt Damon playing Jason Bourne David Norris in a conspiracy filled world where everything is planned out for you in a Moleskine notebook that looks like a map of the New York sewer system.
But wait, there's more! If someone in a sweet 60's hat forgets to control your every move because he's playing "Words with Friends" on his iPhone, your life is seriously jacked my friend. Especially if during that moment you meet the girl of your dreams who was supposed to have been in someone else's pipeline.
Or something like that. Yep, life in The Adjustment Bureau would be totally lame, unless you could hang out with Matt Damon - but then again that would be your fate, right?
There's definitely a serious slam on "God" or "gods" in this film. The Leader of the Adjustment Board is called The Chairman - even though he 'goes by many names' (get it?). And The Chairman is a rather cranky fellow who enjoys manipulating the fates of humanity for enjoyment not unlike a kid with a magnifying glass near an anthill.
Aren't you glad that you live in a free-will existence? Oh, some might argue that the God of the Bible is like the Chairman, but absolutely nothing could be farther from the truth. He's a loving Father who has done everything short of violating our free will to save us from it!
And rather than mapping out our fate in a little notepad, check out this truth about our choice and chance in life:
The days of my life were all prepared before I'd even lived one day (Psalm 139:16).
Isn't it amazing to know that God loved us before we were ever born? And not only that, but He laid out a perfect plan for our lives from beginning to end before we took our first breath!
So what is that perfect plan?
For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago (Ephesians 2:10).
The word "masterpiece" used here is the Greek poema...sound like any word you know? Of course it does - it is where we get our word "poem." In other words, every Christian is a living poem, adding new lines to the story every day!
Think about it - long before you were even a sparkle in your parents' eyes, you were a complete story in your Father's mind. Before the earth began He already had pulled out a sheet of heavenly paper and wrote your name at the top. And when you trusted Christ, God gave you a pen to write your life poem however you choose...but remember, He also gave you a pattern to follow so your life will be a complete masterpiece.
That pattern in His perfect plan is to simply live life as though it were Jesus walking in your footsteps. And this is really not complicated, because He spelled out the plan by giving us The Great Commission and The Great Commandment:
Jesus came and told his disciples, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:18-20).
You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' No other commandment is greater than these" (Mark 12:30-31).
No Adjustment Bureau needed here folks. If you believe you have free will to live out THE Cause that God has prepared for you, which is a choice to love God and love others by sharing the gospel with them, then you have a chance to make your life into a poem that is nothing short of a living masterpiece!
Isn't that worth fighting for???
Flashpoint: Ignite Into Action
Discussing human's free will offers a great opportunity to bring up the Bible's teaching on God's offer of salvation that must be accepted or rejected depending on our choice. This week, pray for an opportunity to share the gospel when you talk to your friends about The Adjustment Bureau, and pray that they would choose to trust in Jesus Christ as their only hope of salvation.
Accelerant: Fuel for THE Cause
Pray: Thank you Father, that you have made us in your image and have granted us freedom to choose you. I pray that you would use me this week to be a light that reveals the truth of the gospel to my friends who live in the darkness of their free will.
Read: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified (Romans 8:28-30).
Get: Learn from other teens own real life experiences sharing their faith in the 30-day devo Reach Out…Don't Freak Out. With daily, bite-size ideas, you will be encouraged to find that stepping out and sharing your faith is easier than you might think.
