Weekend, February 10, 2024
A Cause for Rejoicing
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. (Ephesians 1:5 NLT)
If you knew the outcome of something before it took place, would you choose the option that would work in your favor or against it?
To put it another way, if you knew ahead of time what the winning lottery numbers would be, would you choose the right ones or the wrong ones?
God knew exactly how each of us would turn out. And He chose us from the foundation of the world. Maybe you’re saying, “I think the Lord made a mistake here, because I’m a loser.”
No, God chose you to win. He chose you to become something that He will make you into. You might look at yourself and see only your flaws and shortcomings. But just remember that you are still a work in progress. God is not finished with you yet. And He will complete what He has begun in your life.
We might say that we “found the Lord,” but in reality, God wasn’t lost. We were. And one day we made the discovery that God loves us. We saw our need for Him, and so we chose Him. But God chose us first. Jesus said, “You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit” (John 15:16 NLT).
God didn’t choose us because of any inherent merit or goodness on our part. It’s clear that, despite our best intentions and the high opinion we may hold of ourselves, God’s choice had nothing to do with that. Before God made the world, before sin even entered into it, God predestined us and chose us to be His children.
In fact, I believe that God has predestined every person to be saved. God wants us to be saved. He wants us to be forgiven. But the Bible also teaches that God gave us free will. Our choice does play into the matter, and I believe that we cast the deciding vote.
The doctrine of predestination is not something that we will understand, necessarily. Yet Jesus Christ shed His blood for everyone. Jesus said, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NLT).
Notice that Jesus didn’t say, “For this is how God loved the elect.” What He did say, however, is that God loved the world.
Romans 5:6-8 says, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (NLT).
Jesus died for all of us so that we might know Him. We may not understand why God chose us, and that’s okay. But let’s rejoice in the fact that He did.
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