|
|
HAVING FAITH VERSUS TEMPTING FATE
Have faith but don't tempt fate.
What does that mean?
There was a young fellow we know who is a real up-and-comer in his career and he is a fine fellow but we overheard him at a gathering speaking with a friend about his pension and how after x-number of years he could retire and would then "have it made in the shade." It was said like it was a done deal -- like there are no accidents or pitfalls in life.
A few months later, he was diagnosed with a cancer that could have taken his life. A life that had it made in the shade was suddenly and violently upside-down.
He seems fine (pray for the many who have this disease) but the point is: never boast about having it "made." Boast only in Jesus. Boast only of God.
And when speaking of the future, always say: God willing. Certainly, many of you do this already. But a reminder.
"I'll be able to collect such and such a pension at age such and such, God willing." For if God's not behind it, anything can happen.
This doesn't mean we're afraid of the future -- that we put faith in a negative! That grants power to the enemy. He gorgonizes. He creates fear. He's the architect of paranoia.
It means, instead: prudence and in speaking of the future, invocation of the Lord.
"God willing."
Faith is of God. Fate is of the enemy.
Look at the definition of "fate."
The dictionary: "The development of events beyond a person's control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power: destiny, providence, the stars, chance, luck, fortune, karma."
Too much of that sounds occult. In fact a major publication on occult topics is called Fate Magazine.
But let us ask of the definition: what supernatural "power"?
Providence? Yes. But not the esoteric kind.
In the New Age and humanism we hear the impersonal term "universe" instead of "God." So it is that fate is to faith as the "universe" is to the Lord.
It's God Who operates the universe and Who is anything but impersonal. He is not just some energy or collection of stars. Note that in the Garden, Jesus didn't say, "As fate will have it" but "Thy Will be done."
For the Lord controls things -- except if we let the enemy take them over. When our free will doesn't conform with His Will, matters can unravel.
And cockiness, arrogance, and self-assuredness about the future (note the word "self"), is the issue. The root is the great enemy of joy: pride.
"Let not the wise boast of his wisdom, nor the strong boast of his strength, nor the rich man boast of his riches. But rather, let those who boast, boast of this: that in their prudence they know me, know that I, the Lord, act with fidelity, justice, and integrity on earth." (Jeremiah 9:22-23).
When it comes to your "fate," have confidence in nothing and no one but God.
