Destined

1 Peter 2:6-8 says "For in Scripture it says: 'See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.' Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,' and, 'A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.' They stumble because they disobey the message–which is also what they were destined for."

Peter was talking about building us into a spiritual house, and now he adds Jesus as the cornerstone. But things stop feeling good pretty quickly. For those who trust, this is good. For those who disobey, this is the rock that will trip them up.

The chilling part is that Peter says disobedience is what these people were destined for. This was God's plan - remember, "Jacob have I loved, and Esau I hated." Some were created to show God's mercy, others to show His judgment.

I don't like thinking about this. For one thing, it doesn't seem fair (although the only really fair thing would be to destroy us all.) For another, I disobey. When you take into account what I think and not just what I do, it feels like I disobey a lot. Just because I try not to make it the pattern for my life, that doesn't seem enough to justify my election vs. someone else's damnation.

Election is one of those things where I just have to trust God. Give me half a reason from scripture and I'd like to become a universalist - I'd like everyone to end up in Heaven. But scripture doesn't support that, and Peter doesn't either.

In the end, I'm grateful that to me the cornerstone is precious, because I know I didn't put myself in that group. By grace, God did.