Your Origin And Destiny

C.C. Lewis wrote in The Great Divorce: “There is but one good; that is God. Everything else is good when it looks to Him and bad when it turns from Him.”

Christianity has a great advantage over other religions in that God offers not only a pardon for sin, but power over it, providing we become born again spiritually, as Jesus taught Nicodemus (John 3:16). Then the gentle Holy Spirit takes up invisible residence in us by invitation: and teaches, guides and helps us throughout life.

1 Corinthians 6:19 makes this clear to believers:

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.

The Holy Spirit acts as a small, quiet voice within us, over and above our natural conscience. Although this voice is easily swamped, suppressed or ignored in our frenetic lives, his intention is for us to listen and grow the distinctive “Fruit of the Holy Spirit”, as itemised in Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

We see each of these “fruit” portrayed fully in Jesus’ life and character on Earth.

In this way, God expresses his intention for us to grow Jesus’ attributes within ourselves, by living in cooperation with the Holy Spirit.

Arrogance, unforgiveness, immorality and greed amongst other human weaknesses prevents the Holy Spirit growing Christ’s nature in us.

But even if we co-operate, does God the Father have a longer-term plan than just yielding a crop of nicer people leading happier lives?

He certainly has momentous plans for us! Absolutely!

What we have done is no more than to catch a glimpse of God in this brief study, that he shines with light and love, and that we can appreciate some things about him—e.g. his physical, intellectual, emotional, character, creative and social attributes.

Even thinking of him in these few respects helps us to know God better, which in turn should lead us to loving him more, seeking him more, and increasing our appreciation of his Creation.

The wonder is that Father God becomes personally involved in our lives—right here, right now—when invited, and when we have asked for the saving work of Jesus to remove any barriers between ourselves and him.

Now that you know better who God is, the final question addressed in this book becomes “what could be my destiny with this God?”