Good morning: “You are the master of your destiny. You can influence, direct and control your own environment. You can make your life what you want it to be.” So wrote self-help pioneer Napoleon Hill in 1937 in his best-selling book, Think and Grow Rich. He interviewed successful people, studied their lives, and concluded that if a person is determined enough, they can make their life into whatever they choose. Ignoring God’s role in one’s life is nothing new. When people began to multiply in the post-flood years, they decided to build a city and tower, “so that we may make a name for ourselves” (Gen. 11:4). There was no thought about God and his will. They believed they were the masters of their own destiny. Today people talk about choosing their gender and sexual orientation. No one should dare tell them what they can or can’t do with their bodies. Money and possessions are seen as the sole product of one’s own hard work and ingenuity. But the most dangerous belief of all is that you can be the master of your own eternal destiny, that you can chart your own spiritual path to forever-happiness. The prophet Isaiah points out how foolish it is to “play God”: “Does the clay say to the potter; ‘What are you making?’” (Is. 45:9). The one and only God who stretched out the heavens and formed the earth has “knit together” each one of us. “My times are in your hands” (Ps. 31:15). God does not want anyone to die eternally. He sent His Son to bear sin’s penalty in our place. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. There is no salvation apart from him. Rather than second-guessing and grumbling about how God is directing our lives, let’s praise him for not letting us be the masters of our own destiny, which would only result in disaster. Thank him for rescuing us from sin and death and promising to give us all we need for this life too. Instead of playing God, let us pray, “Lord, your good and gracious will be done in my life today.” Yours in Christ, Pastor Our service begins at 9 a.m. tomorrow. Sunday school and Bible class follow. The Bible class will look at what the Lord says about “judging” others.
