The Truth About Destiny

One of the most common limiting factors that I see in many people’s lives is their beliefs about their destiny. For so many people, this word has been loaded with mystical meaning and therefore is only understood by the spiritual elite. As a result, many just leave the direction of their lives to a higher power and live day to day waiting for something to happen that will cause them to live a better life.

The Truth About Destiny

But is that the truth about destiny? Is it really a mystical force that shapes our lives unconsciously and delivers us down a path of its choosing? Or is it something much more simple that is controlling the direction of our lives?

Read on to discover the truth about your destiny. 

What’s controlling your destiny?

Destiny is one of those words that means many different things to many different people. For some, it means the force of fate that controls the universe and shapes our lives. For others, it means the ultimate plan of God that our lives have been scripted to perform. And for many, it has little or no meaning because they don’t live their lives in deference to a higher power.

Destiny Quote - William Jennings BryanDestiny comes from the same root word in Latin that gives us the word “destination.” Simply put, destiny is another way of saying where your path is taking you. And what directs our paths in life? God? Fate? Chance? Or is it something else?

If we’re being honest with ourselves we all know the uncomfortable truth that confronts every human being on this planet is that our decisions control our destiny. But for many reasons, we don’t want to admit it.

Obviously, you can see how this truth that our decisions determine our destiny comes into massive conflict with the belief that so many of us hold dear that God or the Universe is orchestrating the circumstances of our lives. But in the end, who’s the responsible party for where you’re going? Is it God who placed you on this path or is it you?

Who’s responsible for where you’re going?

Think about it. When was the last time you heard someone talking about their circumstances say something like, “I don’t know how this happened!” All the time, right? And it’s usually when things are going poorly and they’ve made some decisions that carried serious consequences into their lives.

When we believe that something other than ourselves is controlling our destiny then we give ourselves the excuse to keep on making the same decisions and hoping for different results. And that, as famously defined by Albert Einstein, is insanity.

Destiny-Decision Quote - Tony RobbinsFor example, I caught half an episode of Teen Mom 3 while flipping through the channels in my hotel room the other day. Now, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how these young men and women found themselves on this path. They made a lot of tiny decisions that led up to the moment when they decided to have unprotected sex with one another and then found themselves saddled with the responsibility of parenthood.

But did they stop the madness of their poor decision making after they had babies? Of course not! Because who wants to take personal responsibility for their decisions when they can blame them on someone or something else? Right?

Right. And that’s human condition, friends. Left unchecked, we’ll blame just about anything around us instead of taking personal responsibility for our futures. Unfortunately, many of us only realize the truth that is was our decisions that determined our destiny far too late to change the consequences of our actions.

So, where is your path taking you? Are you happy with where your life is headed or is it time for a course correction? The truth is, it’s up to you.

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3 thoughts on “The Truth About Destiny

  1. Interesting take on this topic, Jeremy. I would simply add that, for many who do believe in God and that He has a destiny for each and every one of us, He still requires us to choose, to be proactive, and to take accountability for our actions. And in God’s metaphysical economy there is no victim-hood! (I suppose a die-hard Calvinist would disagree however… :/ )

    • Good addition, Bobby! I too believe that we all have a God-given purpose to fulfill that requires our decisions and actions to fulfill it. My only challenge is with the wording. Since language shapes so much of our interpretation of things, I always want to make sure to use the terminology that best fits the reality. There’s hardly any mention of God having a “destiny” for us in the Scriptures, but there’s plenty of allusion to us having a “purpose.” Semantics, yes, but when I use the term purpose I don’t have to fight the definitions of fate, chance, and a necessary and already written future. (And I’ve had a lot of fun talks with die-hard Calvinist friends :-)

  2. Great article!
    This “human condition” seems to stem from a fallen nature. The original purpose of having dominion on this earth is having the ability to respond or listen and obey the words of our Father with purpose. Trying to define a path on our own and giving up by choice we give up the ability to respond. It’s the same tactic as getting Eve to try and take matters into her own hands by disobeying and relinquishing power. By ascribing to a set destination we have tied Aba’s hands and made our own path with puts us outside the power to be human beings so we revert to a sub-human state.