The Peace and Promise of ChristmasSample

Our Powerful Destiny

God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him -Acts 2:24.

In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, two “star-crossed” (negatively destined) lovers from rival families are drawn irresistibly to one another. But events conspire against them, first to inspire their love and its secret consummation, and then to coerce their decision to take their lives rather than endure their families’ mutual hatred for each other. 

In the closing scene, Prince Escalus mourns the loss of these two young people and the feud that drove them to an unwanted end. “See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate,” he says to the two families. It was a tragic destiny. 

What is destiny? It’s the sense that something—a result, outcome, or event—is inevitable because it has somehow been predetermined. 

No one has ever walked this earth with a more precisely defined destiny than Jesus Himself. On the Jewish feast day of Pentecost, only a few short weeks following the resurrection of Jesus, and mere days after His return to His heavenly Father, Peter spoke these words about Him: “This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross” (Acts 2:23). 

It’s this clearly defined destiny—“God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge”—that made it possible for our destiny to be transformed to a life worth living now and eternity to be spent in His presence. A joyous destiny defined by love!

When you consider that God has included you in His eternal plan, how do you respond to Him? How does this knowledge help shape your focus in life? 

Who am I, Father, that You consider me at all? And yet, You do! Thank You for the plans You have for my life and for defining me by Your love.