God Has Chosen Us
Ephesians 1:4-6
"[J]ust as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved." (NKJV)
Right now I want to shout that from every mountaintop, from every shore to every shore; from this continent and that continent, good God, I want to shout this all around the world! I cannot contain it anymore!
HE chose us! How cool is that? Us in our wretchedness. Us in our sin. Us in our immorality. Not a single one of us is exempt from that. You, you and even YOU! But he has still chosen us! He wants us to be HIS children! He even let His ONLY Son be sacrificed just to make it EASIER FOR THAT TO HAPPEN! Without Christ there was no salvation. Without Christ there was no path to grace!
He said it Himself, "No one comes to the Father except through Me."
He wants you! And you! And even you!
Oh my goodness! Praise God for His awesomeness! How wretched we are and yet He has still chosen us!
Paul goes on to say, in Ephesians 3:1-7 how God chose him (Paul) from before even the WORLD WAS CREATED. He didn't choose only Paul, though. He has chosen you, and you and you (and even me)! Yes, before the world ever began He has chosen us each for a special task in His kingdom. But we still have a choice. Do we accept what God has in mind for us? Or do we try to make our own way?
Don't make your own way. In the end, it's all ephemeral and without God all you get is death in the end. Don't chose death. Please.
"But we all die," you might say. Sure, the body dies. For the tried-and-true, covered-in-His-blood believer, though, the spirit, our soul, spends eternity in Paradise with Him. Eternal comfort. No illness. No hunger. No disease. Nothing of sin's stain ever seen again. Ever. When the unbeliever dies, they are eternally separated from Him. As if that isn't torment enough, we are put into eternal torment. Eternal pain. Eternal suffering. Eternal death. Eternal nothingness.
But He has chosen us! And because He has chosen us He will provide for us! All we have to do is accept His will in our lives. All we have to do is accept His son as our Lord and Savior. Of course that does mean change.
I hate change myself but it does happen. It happens because when we welcome Christ into our lives, when we HONESTLY welcome Him into our lives we are immediately transformed on the inside!
LOOK AT ME! Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. That was a life I lived. I even was a practicing pagan at one time. I've done things that would make some people blush with shame. I was nothing. I had nothing. Everything I touched rotted. Relationships. Friendships. Jobs.
And now? I'm still nothing, but I'm a much better nothing then I was. I'm far from perfect. Because of my past I still deal with lust. Correction, now God is dealing with that in me because I've given it up to Him. On my own I cannot change. On my own I cannot walk in His will. But I have chosen Him. He is welcome in my life. And He's honored that by making me a better me. And by me continuing to let His will be done, He's given me people in my life to help guide me and correct me if I get it wrong. He's given me people to love in the way He says we should love. And they love me in that very same way.
Why? Not because I've changed. If they loved me because of that, it wouldn't be God's love. No, they love me because I am doing my very best to be God's tool.
I'm far from perfect, but I'm trying to reach for that goal. Even knowing that while in this world I will never reach it.
HE HAS CHOSEN US! How much cooler can it get than the creator of the entire UNIVERSE has chosen US!
Are you a prostitute? He still wants you to be His child.
Are you a homosexual? He still wants you to be His child.
Are you a drug addict? He still wants you to be His child.
Are you an atheist? He still wants you to be His child.
Do not harden your hearts, brothers and sisters. Do not close your minds to He who created you. Who has CHOSEN YOU BEFORE YOU WERE EVEN BORN!
It is only in our sinful rebellion that we are separated from Him. In accepting Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are washed in His blood. Our past life? Gone. Forgotten. The moment we honestly accept Christ into our lives God has no more memory of our past transgressions. They were wiped clean from the Book of Life by the blood of the perfect Lamb. Blood shed not so that we can continue to mock Him and make a sham out what He has given us (and continues to give us, even in our sin). Blood shed so that we will finally accept Him as our Father; blood shed so that we can approach Him without the taint of our sin and rebellion.
Don't waste this most precious gift given to us. Don't turn away from Christ Jesus, don't turn way from God who wants to make us all brothers and sisters THROUGH CHRIST'S BLOOD!
Oh dear God please don't turn away.
[tags]religion[/tags]
Originally published at Ameliorations 1.0.
"[J]ust as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved." (NKJV)
Right now I want to shout that from every mountaintop, from every shore to every shore; from this continent and that continent, good God, I want to shout this all around the world! I cannot contain it anymore!
HE chose us! How cool is that? Us in our wretchedness. Us in our sin. Us in our immorality. Not a single one of us is exempt from that. You, you and even YOU! But he has still chosen us! He wants us to be HIS children! He even let His ONLY Son be sacrificed just to make it EASIER FOR THAT TO HAPPEN! Without Christ there was no salvation. Without Christ there was no path to grace!
He said it Himself, "No one comes to the Father except through Me."
He wants you! And you! And even you!
Oh my goodness! Praise God for His awesomeness! How wretched we are and yet He has still chosen us!
Paul goes on to say, in Ephesians 3:1-7 how God chose him (Paul) from before even the WORLD WAS CREATED. He didn't choose only Paul, though. He has chosen you, and you and you (and even me)! Yes, before the world ever began He has chosen us each for a special task in His kingdom. But we still have a choice. Do we accept what God has in mind for us? Or do we try to make our own way?
Don't make your own way. In the end, it's all ephemeral and without God all you get is death in the end. Don't chose death. Please.
"But we all die," you might say. Sure, the body dies. For the tried-and-true, covered-in-His-blood believer, though, the spirit, our soul, spends eternity in Paradise with Him. Eternal comfort. No illness. No hunger. No disease. Nothing of sin's stain ever seen again. Ever. When the unbeliever dies, they are eternally separated from Him. As if that isn't torment enough, we are put into eternal torment. Eternal pain. Eternal suffering. Eternal death. Eternal nothingness.
But He has chosen us! And because He has chosen us He will provide for us! All we have to do is accept His will in our lives. All we have to do is accept His son as our Lord and Savior. Of course that does mean change.
I hate change myself but it does happen. It happens because when we welcome Christ into our lives, when we HONESTLY welcome Him into our lives we are immediately transformed on the inside!
LOOK AT ME! Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. That was a life I lived. I even was a practicing pagan at one time. I've done things that would make some people blush with shame. I was nothing. I had nothing. Everything I touched rotted. Relationships. Friendships. Jobs.
And now? I'm still nothing, but I'm a much better nothing then I was. I'm far from perfect. Because of my past I still deal with lust. Correction, now God is dealing with that in me because I've given it up to Him. On my own I cannot change. On my own I cannot walk in His will. But I have chosen Him. He is welcome in my life. And He's honored that by making me a better me. And by me continuing to let His will be done, He's given me people in my life to help guide me and correct me if I get it wrong. He's given me people to love in the way He says we should love. And they love me in that very same way.
Why? Not because I've changed. If they loved me because of that, it wouldn't be God's love. No, they love me because I am doing my very best to be God's tool.
I'm far from perfect, but I'm trying to reach for that goal. Even knowing that while in this world I will never reach it.
HE HAS CHOSEN US! How much cooler can it get than the creator of the entire UNIVERSE has chosen US!
Are you a prostitute? He still wants you to be His child.
Are you a homosexual? He still wants you to be His child.
Are you a drug addict? He still wants you to be His child.
Are you an atheist? He still wants you to be His child.
Do not harden your hearts, brothers and sisters. Do not close your minds to He who created you. Who has CHOSEN YOU BEFORE YOU WERE EVEN BORN!
It is only in our sinful rebellion that we are separated from Him. In accepting Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are washed in His blood. Our past life? Gone. Forgotten. The moment we honestly accept Christ into our lives God has no more memory of our past transgressions. They were wiped clean from the Book of Life by the blood of the perfect Lamb. Blood shed not so that we can continue to mock Him and make a sham out what He has given us (and continues to give us, even in our sin). Blood shed so that we will finally accept Him as our Father; blood shed so that we can approach Him without the taint of our sin and rebellion.
Don't waste this most precious gift given to us. Don't turn away from Christ Jesus, don't turn way from God who wants to make us all brothers and sisters THROUGH CHRIST'S BLOOD!
Oh dear God please don't turn away.
[tags]religion[/tags]
Originally published at Ameliorations 1.0.