Our Unique Destiny

“… we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  Ephesians 2:10

This scripture speaks of the unique destiny God has prepared for each of his children.  My destiny is not yours, yours is not mine. It’s an awesome fact of the diversity of God’s creative power that no two human destinies are exactly the same. God has been at work throughout our lives moving each one into his or her own destiny. No, not just during our lifetime but from the beginning of time. Remember, he chose us before the creation of the world.  He chose the period in human history when we would be born. He chose our parents. He chose all the circumstantial influences he would be using throughout our lives as instruments to mold us. As he was knitting us together in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13), he built into us natural talents that would be useful later as we started to do the good works he was preparing for us.  But alas!  We were born in iniquity, spiritually dead because of a congenital disease. We inherited a sin nature!

Then God called us. The time, place, and circumstances of that call differ for each of us, but it was our common destiny to be called. “Those he predestined he also called” (Romans 8:30). When you and I responded to that call, drawn by his irresistible grace, our choice to follow Christ simply reaffirmed the choice God had made long ago. Our common destiny was fulfilled. We became alive “in Christ.”  We began to move into the unique destiny God had planned for each of us. We began to bear fruit.  But that was only the beginning!  God isn’t finished with us yet. So much more lies ahead. God’s prophet says “… I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). Next time I will have more to say about those plans for the future, and “the fruit that will last.”