Predestined to Adoption

In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—… (Ephesians 1:5) Following pretty closely on the heels of God's choosing grace, we find the next verb of "predestined."  Now, we can get hung up with this idea of predestination.  It can give us some reservations.  If everything is predestined, do we still have free will?  What about all the bad things that happen in this world?     John Calvin suggested that the doctrine of predestination was not to be taught to those who were young or new to the faith, but only those who had experienced more of life with God.  The Canons of Dort suggest the same in Point I, Article 14 when they say "this teaching must be set forth with a spirit of discretion, in a godly and holy manner, at the appropriate time and place, without inquisitive searching into the ways of the Most High." While our Reformed tradition and Paul in more of his writings, including here in Ephesians 1:5 claims that God has "predestined us for adoption," the fact of the matter remains that God has not revealed to us the intricate details of how this history will unfold.  Most things remain hidden in the mystery of God's will and are beyond our searching out.  The life that we live, therefore, remains a life in which we must make wise and virtuous choices given the reality before us, speak loving and gracious words, and commit ourselves to hopeful, faithful action trusting in God to work out his purposes in his time and in his way. While we may not know the path our lives will take though, what the doctrine of pre-destination does tell us is that our life has a "destination."  God does not act randomly or impersonally.  He does not merely choose—he also gives a direction, a purpose, a meaning to the lives of those he chooses.  He gives them a destination.  And that destination is "adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ."  Our destination is the family and Kingdom of God.   Through God's choosing, we belong to this family and Kingdom.  It is a gift.  But we're not fully there yet either—the kingdom has not fully come, nor are we yet fully at home with God in his family—and so it is also a destination.  Our adoption is both gift and destination.  As is the Kingdom.  And so, through our works of faith, hope, and love we become more fully who we are.  We draw nearer to our destination even as that destination of the Kingdom becomes more fully revealed to others through us.   One other thought.  This word "predestined" is derived from a word meaning boundary—the outer limits of where we can roam.  Peterson likens it to a fence line on the prairie that gives a start and end point to a field and thus to a farmer's work.  Otherwise, without that boundary, one might get lost and swallowed up in the endless seas of grain.   Without boundaries, we can easily get lost in a sea of choices and decisions and so become paralyzed, anxious, and fearful.  But God's predestining work in our lives narrows the field of possibility, gives us an identity and a name—His own—and gives purpose and direction to our days.  In the seas of endless choices that stare us in the face everyday from our devices about who we can be and what we should do, God's gift of predestining love seems to me like good news indeed.  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21).