This week Lisa Carlson, our NCF coworker, just returned from a cruise to celebrate her 30th wedding anniversary. Lisa oversees NCF Member Services and we missed her in the NCF office!
It seems cruises are very popular these days. I get brochures about all kinds of cruises, from gigantic ocean liners to sleek, elegant river boats. But no matter the size of the boat, there is always one captain, and he holds the ultimate control, power, and authority over the crew, passengers, and activities. The passengers are free to roam about the ship and enjoy themselves, but they are not free to change the course of the ship!
God and people are somewhat like a captain and passengers on a cruise ship, according to A.W. Tozer. A captain may have some power and authority on his ship, but God Almighty is absolutely sovereign. With ultimate power and authority, he controls everything and he does as he pleases.
As the prophet Nahum wrote, “His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet” (Nahum 1:3b). God plans everything; he does not make mistakes or have accidents. And God’s people, like passengers on a ship, have some freedom to make choices about how they live.
Tozer writes that even though Christians have different viewpoints about God’s sovereignty and its relationship to our free will or freedom to choose, God’s Word tells us to know Jesus and to choose to live fully for him.
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness” (Colossians 2:6-7).
The choice is ours. Do we follow God’s good plan for our lives or choose to go our own way?
I know what I choose. What about you? –by Jane Hall, NCF National Director All quotes from: A.W. Tozer, The Attributes of God, Volume 2 This is the eighteenth post in a series by NCF Director Jane Hall on God’s attributes. She is inspired by the writings of A.W. Tozer in The Attributes of God, Volume 2
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