A further question which is raised when God's sovereignty is taken seriously, goes like this: "If God is really in control, why bother? He'll see that we do the things he wants us to do. Relax!"
Here is another area where what seems like a logical conclusion just doesn't follow. It is a matter of simple historical fact that people who have been convinced of the sovereignty of God have been extremely "active." If he has chosen them to do his will, then they must strive mightily to do just that! At the time of the Protestant Reformation, for example, the Calvinists were the people who took predestination most seriously. But there were no more active and responsible individuals in that entire period than the Calvinists. Why? Because they were convinced that God had chosen them to do his work, and that therefore nothing, absolutely nothing, could defeat them. Who could stand against the Lord's elect? Consequently they had a vigor that was marvelous (and sometimes terrifying) to behold. A seventeenth century writer put it clearly: "I had rather meet coming against me a whole regiment with drawn swords than one lone Calvinist convinced that he is doing the will of God."
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