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On 24 December 2020, a week before the deadline, agreement was reached between the European Union and the United Kingdom, which avoided a ‘no-deal Brexit’, the UK Prime Minster declared, ‘We have taken back control of our laws and our destiny.’ On reading this, two questions came to my mind: ‘To what extent is that true?’ and ‘What will the destiny be?’ Then I turned to applying these issues to ourselves as individuals. Can we each decide our ‘laws’? Is our ‘destiny’ in our own hands? What is that ‘destiny’?
It does seem that ‘Brexit’ will give the UK greater control over its law-making, and some gladly say that external bodies cannot now ‘tell it what to do’. In personal life, many also like to make their own decisions, and do not want instruction from others on how to conduct their lives. However, no nation can totally do as it pleases as far as its laws are concerned, for there are serious consequences if, for example, it breaks international law.
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Similarly, for people whose attitude is ‘I make my own rules’ the problem is that ultimately we are responsible not to ourselves, but to our Creator, God, Who is totally righteous. In the Bible, He gave "the Law" (of which the best-known part is the "Ten Commandments"), which shows the righteous standard He requires. We have all failed to reach it: "what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God" Romans 3.19. This has serious, eternal, consequences: "the wages of sin is death" Romans 6.23.
What of the ‘destiny’? Decisions by authorities do have a huge bearing on the direction a country takes; however, much lies beyond their power, as (for example) the spread of Covid-19 across the world has shown. Likewise, for individuals, while we can take decisions that greatly affect our future (such as where to live or whom to marry), many things are outside our control. In particular, we cannot escape our own mortality, and the fact that we must meet God: "it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" Hebrews 9.27.
However, while it is inevitable that we will leave this life and then face God, we do have a choice as to whether or not we are ready to do so. God Himself has provided a way for us to escape the consequences of our rebellion against Him. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world. Unlike us, He lived a life of perfect righteousness. His ‘destiny’ was to go to the cross for us, bear the judgment of God against sin, die, rise again, and return to Heaven. "Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God" 1Peter 3.18.
None of us knows what Britain’s ‘destiny’ will be after ‘Brexit’. There is a wide range of possible outcomes. In contrast, as far as our destiny after death is concerned, the picture is clear-cut: there are only two destinations, Heaven and Hell. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" John 3.36. In an uncertain world, how vital it is for you to be certain that your destiny is Heaven. You can be sure, and you will be, if you put your trust in the Saviour Who shed His blood for you at Calvary. "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out" Acts 3.19.
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