God's Master Plan must be your Plan.

God’s master plan must be your plan. We know God has a plan because he showed us the plan, his map to destiny. But more important, over and above his master plan, God revealed Himself to us. The biblical term for allowing man to know God and his plan is called Divine Revelation. Man has only two choices to understand reality; revelation or guesswork. The difference between these two options is certainty. Revelation allows man to be certain regarding the truth of the data God has communicated to man. This is because God revealed it to man and God is never wrong. With guesswork we are assuming our data and logical conclusions are correct. The wisest, most brilliant minds in history can not give man the guarantee that logical conclusions are correct. All they can confirm is that the conclusions are correct up to the point they are disproved. God’s truths are eternally correct.  God revealed data about Himself and his plan. Data which would never have been discovered and known by man except God communicated it to man. Because God decided to reveal his truths we can now be certain of our purpose in creation. We have been given a sun of truth to light our way and we need no longer stumble in the darkness. The thinking mind can observe the world and creation and point us in the direction of a supreme creator but only Divine Revelation can reveal the person of God and his instructions on correct living.   

Ultimate Reality

God revealed the answer to what is ultimate reality? to the Jews. The answer was Himself. The answer was God. The Jews did not deduce this fact but it was communicated to them by God. It is impossible for man alone to have discovered this fact. Man did not discover this fact like it discovered the law of gravity, or E=MC squared but man was told the nature of reality. We were told by God because there was no other way we would have found out this fact. It is a fact beyond our bounds to discover. God revealed to man something that is sacred and profound. So profound it goes to the heart of reality. God revealed his name. A name is sacred. It is a person’s symbol. The most sacred word to be known by man is God’s name. It was given to Moses at the burning bush. God’s name is “I AM” (JHWH). Ultimate reality is a person, an “I”. Personhood lies at the center of reality. God is unique; there is only one god; he is sole one “I”. God is irreducible. He has no limits; He is infinite; He is “I AM”. He is infinite living present, not bounded by time or space. He has no beginning and no end. The final truth of what is real, the answer to the questions “What is?” “What is that outside my being?” “What is really real?” is God. God is Ultimate reality. We know this because God revealed it to his Chosen people, the Jews. God is ultimate reality because he is ultimately real, the source of everything. All existence flows from God. God is creator. He creates. No other then God Creates. All creation exists because God makes it exist. God is the subject. Creation is a verb. It means more then the elements, laws and structures of creation. Its means to make existence itself. God also revealed why he enacts creation. The reason is his divine Character and Will. The character of Ultimate Reality is infinite truth, justice, love, holiness and goodness. God is a person with a personality. We who were created with the image reflect God is this way; we are also persons with a personality.       

You are not Detemined

We are not determined. We have free will, we are responsible for our choices and decisions. We can choose right from wrong. But we are also born with a selfish instinct. We are selfish by nature. It is a fact of human existence. This selfishness we call “original sin”. Our being conditions our choices and resulting actions. We do bad because we have badness within us. We also do good because we have goodness in us also. But we have a free will to choose. We can choose goodness over the badness within us. We are not determined but are led, pushed and pulled by our selfish condition. We are not victims of conditions or conditioning.  We can choose to obey our instincts or resist our instincts. This is the great battle of living. We are responsible because we can choose our response to life. We respond through our thoughts, words and actions. We can confirm this reality by external and internal experience. The external world is drawn to what is wrong. We see it in politics, business, economics and society. The “means justifies the ends” philosophy. Today more then ever the world seems to be overwhelmed with problems of it’s making; it’s own sinfulness We also confirm it when we look into our hearts and our tendency to do bad.  But we can choose alternatives that are contrary to our conditions and conditioning. All living is a relationship with God. Every thought, word and action, every moment of our lives are solely in the context of our relation with God. There is no other way to live. People whether they are ignorant of God, ignore, avoid, try to hide or accept God all have a relationship to God. We know this because all of creation and man in creation cannot exist without God. There are only two possibilities in this relationship; faith or sin. All that is not faith is sin. All that is not sin is faith. Faith is belief but more so; it is trust and fidelity. Sin is breaking the trust and infidelity. We are not determined because we can choose with our free will either faith or sin.