Our Path in Life

For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

—Jeremiah 29:11

 

No matter who you are or where you find yourself at this very moment, you’ll likely have reached a point where you question what your purpose in life is. You might be going down a career path that feels unfulfilling, or maybe you have only just begun to search for your purpose in this world. Either way, rest assured, God has a plan for you. We all have a purpose, a destiny, that God has given us. We may not know what that is, but if we have faith in God to guide us, then we will follow our destiny. The 19^th- and early 20th-century American politician William Jennings Bryan said, "Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."

 

The Christian theology is in support of a divine destiny. That is, God has a predetermined plan for each one of us. For instance, in Jeremiah 1:5, God told Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” This shows us that God had a pre-determined plan for Jeremiah and has a plan for all of us. This also implies that the birth of a Christian is not an accident, but pre-planned for the purpose of God. The Reformation-era theologian John Calvin believed in predestination that God has an unchangeable decree from before the creation of the world that he would freely save some people while others would be “barred from access to” salvation. Calvin took the idea of God having a plan for us too far. Yes, God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, but He gives us free will to follow the path He has chosen for us.

 

God created us with the ability to make our own choices and decisions. People live with the consequences of whatever choices they make. Proverbs 16:3 tells us, “Commit your works to the Lord and your plans will be established.” If we follow the teachings of Christ and trust in the Lord, then we will find our path. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. We should all understand that our lives are full of unlimited possibilities. We just have to trust that we have divine guidance to know those possibilities. We have to believe that there is a place for the will of God, but also, there is a place for personal choice. For us to fulfill our destiny, we must make the right decisions and choices. 

 

We don’t have to make these decisions in a vacuum. God puts people in our lives to help us find that destiny. The astronomer Galileo Galilei said, "You cannot teach a [person] anything; you can only help [them] to find it within [them]self." Not only must we trust that God is sending us on the right path, but it is also our obligation to help others follow their own path. We can do that by encouraging others to follow the Word of God and the teachings of Jesus.