Allan R. Bevere: Living Life Out of Control

by Dr. Allan R. Bevere, pastor, professor, blogger [Faith Seeking Understanding] and author of Politics of Witness, Colossians and Philemon, and Character of our Discontent.
I was involved in an interesting discussion recently on the idea that we human beings forge our own destinies and how that squares with the Bible’s affirmation that our lives are in the hands of God. In the course of the discussion we began to talk about forgiveness and how it is easier to forgive than to be forgiven, because to be forgiven means we must let go of our fate and put our destiny in the hands of another. How true it is that we human beings like being in control of our lives. “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul;” so goes the poem that so many learn in school and recite as if in fact it were true. Falsehoods sound so believable when they are stated poetically.
But to live in forgiveness is to live life out of control; to live in forgiveness means that I must be willing to put my future, my fate in the hands of another. That is just what we must do as we approach the throne of God. Without the willingness to be forgiven and to live life on the terms of another, we cannot find the grace we so desperately need. (Read more …)
 
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