I thought I would take a quick stab at explaining this piece of theology I learned from Larry, a former Catholic priest and trusted counselor. It was given to me as “spiritual direction” at a retreat, after I remarked that I had missed some turns along life’s way, with the effect that my value to the Kingdom had been somewhat compromised. Larry countered: “Wherever you are, you are where God wants you.” Both he and I were referring to the spot where my life choices had taken me, but it seemed beyond impossible that this “wander route” could have taken me to the exact spot where God wanted me.
But it is true, and it is true at several levels.
(1) First and most simple level. Forget the past; forget the future; God wants me right now, where I am, just as I am. It is not necessary for me to qualify by putting my life in better order. It is not necessary for me to progress to a different place where, say, my prayer life is more consistent and I have made a redeeming series of improved life choices. God is a present-tense God; God’s unconditional grace is sufficient now. No qualifying. No waiting. No excuses.
(2) Second and deeper level. My life choices do not limit God in any way, shape or form. Sure, they limit me; if I commit a felony, I will be excluded from certain types of employment. On the other hand, God is not constrained in the least. This means he is always able to produce the maximum “kingdom value” for my life at any point. Not just the maximum possible value, given the constraints my past bad choices have imposed, but the maximum value without limit. This is possible because neither my past nor my future restrict the value God can produce in me right now. In Christ, my life does not determine my horizon.
(3) Third and still deeper level. Let’s suppose I surrender my past, present and future to God. Sure, God will build new value into my life by leveraging what I did right. That’s not particularly surprising. Here is the wonderful and surprising part: God will convert even my past mistakes into equivalent “kingdom value.” In the simplest possible case, God will convert my acknowledged mistakes into the virtue of humility. He will convert my past wandering into empathy for all those who relapse or stray. Maybe I can’t be a role model, for example, but I could be a counselor. Surely, in God’s hands, these two would be of equal value. The beauty of this, is that it makes self-forgiveness possible.
In the final analysis, God does not apply the external performance and achievement measures common in our secular society; he asks simply, “Have you become, are you becoming, the person I want you to be?”
So, yes, I am redeemed, which means, I am where I am, and it is where God wants me. I’m in the cross-hairs of God’s active grace.
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