Our God-given and Prepared Destiny

UV 1071/10,000 Our God-Given and Prepared Destiny
Jesus said to them, “ You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right hand or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

God has prepared great and wonderful places and things for His heirs, the children who inherit His Kingdom. It is impossible to understand the meaning of this life or the shape of eternal life hereafter without reference to God and His Word. Only God knows all the dimensions of time and space. Only He can see beyond it. Jesus left more than broad hints of the city of Heaven, the mansions that the Lord God has prepared for those who come home to Him. Our response to Christ will determine if our destination is Heaven but our destiny in Heaven is only God-given. It is not only God-given or granted by the expressed judgement of God but it is prepared. Preparation implies planning, designing, execution, building, establishing.

Those who are joint heirs with Christ Jesus are those who drink from His cup of suffering. We need to identify with Christ in His sacrifice and in His suffering. Since we have suffered with Him, we will be glorified with Him. Since we have partaken in His suffering, we will also reign with Him. Our faith in Christ gains us entrance into Heaven. But Jesus stated in this uni-verse that the prerogative to determine the place we get in Heaven, the kind of mansion that each of us get belongs to God the Father. Even Jesus did not know the exact details of the places prepared for even the inner circle of His disciples. It is said that the kind of good deeds we do on earth in this lifetime provides the material for the angels constructing our future mansions in Heaven.

In this uni-verse, Jesus guarantees that we will suffer like Him in this lifetime but that we will be duly rewarded by a just Father in heaven. Since we know that suffering is certain even as reward is more than proportionate and just, we need to pray for the grace, the strength and the patience to endure the suffering. The sons of Zebedee and their mother wanted a place of proximity and power next to Jesus in heaven. But Jesus was asking them instead to focus on what is at hand, that they should aim at overcoming the challenges of this lifetime. Our focus should be on loving God and reciprocating His love rather than seeking rewards. Our destiny has been decided by Him and prepared from the foundation of the world.

Prateep V Philip