Stay on the road!

Driving in Eastern Europe is an interesting experience, and sometimes it takes us on some incredible roads. Occasionally I wonder if the ground I am driving on really is a road. However, I have not yet been in a situation where I have not been able to reach the destination because of the quality of the road. You learn some tricks. It is a challenge to drive on poor roads in rain, because it becomes impossible to see how deep holes are when they are filled with water. I had only lived here a few weeks when I got the advice: “Avoid the holes where you see ducks swimming!” 

– I thought it was a joke, but it wasn’t long before I was grateful for the ducks functioning as important signs where other road-signs were missing. As long as you know that you are traveling in the direction of your destination, you should stay on the road. 

Some weeks back I started this series on the “Attributes of life” with the question: “What comes before life?” I used Jesus’ statement: “I am the way, the truth and the life” in John 14:6 to conclude that God, the way and the truth come before life. 

If you believe that there is an eternal God who always is, it is logical that he also was before everything. However, how can I say that the “Way” comes before life?

Because I believe in God’s prevenient grace (1).

God knows that a human being needs to walk a distance on the road of faith before he can grasp the gospel and experience life. Part of this prevenient grace is the miracle of the fact that there is life on earth. The journal “Science Illustrated” (2) stated recently that there was only 0,0000000000078125% likelihood for the existence of the earth, and they call it ‘the most fortunate planet in the world’, and give ‘nine lucky coincidences’ the credit. 

Well, for some it is easier to think that “Maybe there is a God somewhere?” – as soon as a person allows himself to think that, he is on the road towards the Life. The fact that the journey has started is the grace that precedes the grace when a person receives new life in Jesus Christ.

Paul writes more about this (3) – and I will return to the subject next week. Until then “Stay on the road!” and follow:

The ‘manna’ given by Paul:

Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it. (4)

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(1) The grace, which comes before the saving grace.
(2) The picture is from the front page of the Norwegian version #19 2019
(3) For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 

Romans 1:20
(4) Philippians 3:16 – (the Message)