The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in Colossians 3:12,
"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience."
Paul tells his readers that those who are God's, his "chosen people", are to comport themselves in a manner that manifests the fact they are. The image Paul provides is of the believer going into his changing room and taking off the sinful old nature that controlled him prior to becoming one of God's own, and putting on the new nature that reflects we are, in fact, one of his chosen ones. What makes this possible for us, what empowers us to do so, is our focus on things above, on the Lord who is seated at the right hand of God, Colossians 3:1-4.
What captures my thoughts this morning is the reality that we believers are chosen by God. We are chosen by him to be his children, we are chosen by him to be members of his family, we are chosen by him for new life, we are chosen by him to have a place at his table, we are chosen by him to live with him and our brothers and sisters in the faith for an eternity, we are chosen by him to share in the inheritance Jesus Christ receives from the Father as co-heirs with him. We are chosen!
What makes us God's chosen, what places us into that group considered God's elect?
Something that baffles me is the prevalence today of so many who fail to understand the connection between faith and being chosen by God. God has chosen for himself all who will embrace him in faith! How simple is that?! "To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God..." John 1:12. And, sadly, many who have embraced him in faith fail to see that it was their faith that brought them into God's family as one of his chosen ones. When asked, they respond with a mysterious look in their eye to the sky to explain that we really don't know why God chooses one and not another... "It is all a mystery bound up in the eternal purposes of God's salvation", or some other non-statement.
Really?! Is that what the Scriptures say?
Paul put it very simply in Romans 10:9-10, 17. "If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, 'Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame."... "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message [the gospel], and the message is heard through the word about Christ."
Leaving the Scriptures behind, many get all bound up in notions of our sinful natures rendering us incapable of responding to the gospel, therefore God decides for himself who he wants, apart from faith, and manipulates their hearts to embrace him. It is a theology of salvation by appointment. However, the Scriptures tell me, the gospel tells me, that salvation is by faith and that the gospel itself has the power to step right past our sinful nature and tug on our heartstrings, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile." Romans 1:16.
God has chosen for himself all who will embrace him in faith. He has not chosen the top percentile of intelligent folks, he has not chosen the "goodest" of the do-gooders, he has not chosen the most erudite of theologians, he has not chosen the most cool, the best pop stars, the most popular, the richest, the strongest or the prettiest among us. He has chosen all who choose him, all who will, of their own choice, embrace him in faith - not having been manipulated into doing so, but of their own free will. Jesus makes this clear in his talk with Nicodemus as to why some will not choose him. He said, "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God." John 3:19-21. Their choice, their will.
Think of it! Chosen by God! How wonderful a position to be in! I may not be chosen for the job I want, I may be turned down for a date, I may be overlooked as the next great pitcher of the Cardinals baseball team - but, I am chosen by God! Because I placed my faith in him, he has chosen me for himself!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
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