Dominion

Pastor used a word in the Epiphany sermon that he doesn't usually use: sovereignty. He was talking about the star that led the wise men, and the debate over whether it was a "natural" phenomenon or a "special" star sent by God just for that purpose. (By the way, his conclusion was that it was both because God arranged the stars at creation so that the natural phenomenon would occur at the right time to announce the Savior's birth.)

But this wasn't just some interesting little commentary about the science involved with the star. The point is that God knew from before the foundation of the world what He would be doing to save us, and even before He created time He was planning my salvation. That's the important thing about God's sovereignty -- that it's about all things being tied together in His outpouring of love to rescue sinners, and not about how powerful He is and how we should be awe of His greatness (even though He is and we are).

So my mind gets to wandering about this concept of God's sovereignty. Some people recently have objected to Lutherans talking about God's sovereignty (in that He can override our plans when He so chooses) as if it were Calvinist to make our plans about certain things while recognizing His option to put something else into effect for us. And then it struck me: there's that dominion thing from the first chapter of Genesis.

Obviously God is in charge. But in His position of authority, He gave us dominion. He put us in charge. He lets us decide things. It's okay with Him for us to make all sorts of different decisions about jobs and family and location and activities and purchases. (Of course, there are sinful decisions too. But if something is not sin, then we're free to make choices, and He allows that.) It's kind of amazing that God (I mean, we're talking God here!) will condescend to allow us to be in the driver's seat about so many different things in this world. You be tempted to think He's making us into little images of Himself.