Are you just floating like a feather in the breeze?

Forrest Gump is an interesting movie.  I cannot say I recommend it, due to a few scenes with sexual content, but most of you have probably seen it already.  Anyway, I think I have the movie figured out.  It’s all about determining one’s own destiny – except that Forrest seemed to determine his purely by accident, or at least unintentionally.  Simply by being a nice guy who cared about people and perhaps also by being unworldly, he was able not only to determine his own destiny, but to change the world as well.  Near the end of the movie, Forrest (Tom Hanks) is standing at his wife’s grave asking her if we really have a destiny like his mama used to say or if we just float around on the breeze.  The movie then ends with a feather floating on the breeze, so I guess that’s the writer’s answer (but as I said, I only think I have the movie figured out).  It did get me to thinking about the concept of destiny, however.  Forrest Gump’s question is one worth considering.

The Bible does speak about destiny.  It even speaks of “pre-destiny” or predestination (Rom 8.29; Eph 1.5,11), which comes from a Greek word that literally is “horizoned beforehand”.  That is, the horizons (boundaries, limits) have been determined ahead of time.  Now, before I leave the wrong impression, I’m not talking about Calvinistic predestination which teaches that each individual is predetermined to be saved or lost, separate and apart from any choices they make.  Not only does such a view go against the grain of what is right and just, but there are many Biblical reasons forbidding it (which I won’t go into here).  Rather, it is a class of people who are predestined.  Paul describes that “class” of people as “those in Him”, i.e.  in Christ (Eph 1.4).  God predetermined to save all who are in Christ.  Each individual may choose to be or not to be part of that class of people.  Those who choose to get into Christ have been, by definition, predestined for salvation.

Our lives may not be mapped out in advance, but the choices we make will take us down roads with particular destinations.  We do not just float around on the winds of some arbitrary force such as random chance; nor our we directed by some capricious, unintelligent will such as fate or luck.  We truly can choose our own destiny.  But many people prefer to live their lives like the feather floating in the breeze.  These just take life as it comes, with no sense of direction or final destination.  They live for the moment without thought of consequences.  As Christians, we cannot live that way.  Stuff happens, but our destiny is not accidental.  God has “predestined us to become conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom 8.29).  To help us get there he has also promised to cause the “stuff” in our lives to work together for good (Rom 8.28).  Like the box of chocolates, we may never know what we are going to get along the way, but how we live our lives will determine whether or not it will be good.  It will also determine how much good we do in the world.  And most importantly, it will determine the final destination.
 

 © 2006 Randy Hohf