The You God Sees 3.

“He chose us in Him – Christ – before the foundation of the world …” (Ephesians 1: 4)

“He chose us in Him.”

This idea of God choosing “us” is not simply a figure of speech. It’s an important fact. Paul repeats it five times in the first 3 Chapters of this letter. God “destined us in love to be His Sons through Christ,” he writes in verse 5. “(He – God – purposes, in His Sovereign will, that all human history shall be consummated in Christ … .” (vs. 11) “(W)e who first hoped in Christ are destined to live for the praise of His glory.” (vs. 12) “We are his … Creation, in Christ Jesus to do those good deeds which God planned for us to do.” (2: 10) In Chapter 3 he writes about “the plan in the mystery hidden for ages by God who created all things …” (vs.9) All of this, he asserts, is “according to the eternal purpose which He has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (3: 11)

We are living “destiny”! God has –always had – a plan. His purpose is being carried out through Christ and those who follow Him.

This is high voltage!

It’s what King David wrote about – often sang – in Psalm 139. “All the days I was destined to live were prepared before I’d even lived one of them.” He was overwhelmed by it. “How invaluable to me are your thoughts … incomprehensible …” “Such knowledge is too lofty for me to attain.”

Several years ago a man I’ve always known and loved deeply helped me understand just how lethal such information can be. He said, point blank, “What if you’re not chosen?” Then he said. “I believe I’m one of the rejects!” I struggled to reason with him but could not convince him that the plan of God includes sacrificial love for any and all who will believe it is being offered to them.

Never, since then, have I had more than a casual conversation with this man. By his choice we’ve lived estranged. I’ve prayed for him. But I do not know what he’s done with God’s offer of love.

Such knowledge is “too lofty for us!” It’s potentially harmful. It’s harmful to the person, like my Friend, whose “fear of God,” is actually “distrust” of God. But it’s especially lethal in the minds and hearts of the “religious elites,” who speak glibly of the “elect.”

Yes! “Many are called … few are chosen. (Matthew 22: 14) But that “choice” is God’s and God’s alone. Finite beings that we are, we lack the knowledge required to make such choices. Many of the biblically correct, religiously precise people alive in Jesus time came to the conclusion that He was not “chosen.” We incomplete, often ignorant Children of Adam and Eve need only know 2 things about one’s chosenness. First, our destiny as a race, is defined by “love.” “God loves the world …” Secondly, “God is not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to repent. “ (2 Peter 3: 9) He – God – “… now commands all people, everywhere, to repent.” (Acts 17:30) As far as we humans know any and every person we encounter, Christ-follower or no, is loved and hotly pursued by a God who passionately cares about their destiny and died to salvage them. To wonder whether they’re “chosen” before we offer them God’s mercy is dangerously presumptive!