If fulfillment is the end of the scripted story and the beginning of the unscripted story, a new question immediately appears.
Why do so many people resist freedom?
The answer may be simpler than we imagine.
Freedom sounds wonderful when discussed in theory. It sounds far less attractive when experienced in reality.
A scripted life offers certainty. A scripted life provides direction. A scripted life answers questions before they arise. A scripted life removes much of the burden of responsibility.
If the destination is already determined, then the primary task becomes obedience to the script. One need only discover the plan and follow it.
For this reason, many people find comfort in destiny.
Destiny promises certainty. Destiny promises meaning. Destiny promises that every event serves a predetermined purpose. Even suffering becomes easier to explain when it is believed to be part of a larger plan.
Freedom offers none of these comforts.
Freedom does not provide a script. Freedom does not provide a predetermined destination. Freedom does not guarantee success. Freedom does not remove uncertainty.
Freedom requires participation. Freedom requires responsibility. Freedom requires choice.
This may explain why human beings repeatedly exchange freedom for certainty.
Religious systems often offer certainty. Political systems often offer certainty. National identities often offer certainty. Ideologies often offer certainty.
Each provides a story already written. Each provides a destination already determined. Each reduces the burden of deciding what kind of future should be created.
The irony is that people often claim to desire freedom while simultaneously seeking a script.
The desire for destiny may be one of humanity’s most sophisticated attempts to escape freedom.
For centuries people have searched for God’s plan for their lives. They have sought their calling, their destiny, their assignment, their purpose.
Yet if the Scriptural Assignment of History reached fulfillment at the cross, then a difficult possibility emerges.
What if humanity is no longer living under assignment?
What if the search for destiny belongs to the scripted story?
What if freedom is the inheritance of fulfillment?
Such questions can feel threatening.
Without a script, who am I? Without a destiny, what gives my life meaning? Without an assigned purpose, how do I know what to do?
The answer may not be found in certainty.
The answer may be found in participation.
Meaning may not come from discovering a predetermined future. Meaning may come from creating a future.
Purpose may not come from finding a script. Purpose may come from living fully within freedom.
This does not eliminate wisdom. It does not eliminate responsibility. It magnifies both.
Freedom is not the absence of meaning. Freedom is the opportunity to create meaning.
Freedom is not the absence of purpose. Freedom is the opportunity to participate in purpose.
The fear of freedom may be one of the last remnants of the scripted story.
For many people, freedom feels dangerous because it removes certainty. Yet freedom may be the very thing fulfillment was intended to provide.
The Scriptural Assignment of History reached its destination.
The script ended.
The horizon remained.
And humanity now faces a question no script can answer:
What shall we do with our freedom?
The Gospel Revolution • Mike Williams Ministries
William Ethan Massengill • Michael Lilborn Williams • Daniel Thomas Rouse
Published by Audrey Williams