Chosen

Jun 1, 2021

But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by His marvelous grace.

- St. Paul, Galatians 1:15

It's a good thing God chose me before I was born. If He had waited until after, He might have changed His mind.

- Rev. Charles Spurgeon

One of the questions I was asked as a pastor, maybe more than any other, was: "Harry, what does God want me to do?" My answer was always the same: "Friend, before God called you to do something special, He called you to be something special… to be His son… to be His daughter!" The Bible has a lot of practical instruction on how we should live… but before God gets to any instruction on how we should live, He wants you to know who you are!

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

Since the very beginning of time, God's Story had you written in as His beloved son/His cherished daughter! At the dawn of creation, it's like God had this cosmic pre-production meeting. There were three people in that meeting - God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. They all sat down… looked at the script… and before the first scene was ever shot, God chose you and I to be His son/to be His daughter. Then He called it good… a good story… an epic story… filled with romance, adventure, character development, high drama, and yes, tragedy too… moments of pain and suffering. But just when it looks like all is lost… we win in the end!

When my son, Tyler, was little we really enjoyed professional wrastling… not wrestling but wrastling… with the likes of Goldberg and Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Giant and Jake the Snake and Nature Boy Rick Flair and The Rock and Ultimate Warrior… is your testosterone flowing yet? :) Tyler would velcro on his gold championship belt… in his underwear I might add… and play with these action figures for hours. And then one day, I broke his heart. I told him: "Son, you know these fights on TV are fixed… the outcome is already decided." He was devastated! "What!! You mean it's all fake?!" "No!", I said, "These matches might be fixed, but they are not fake! When Goldberg gets body slammed from six feet off the ground, or when Andre the Giant's 350 pounds grinds you into the mat, or when Stone Cold hurls you into a turnbuckle… there's nothing fake about that. That's real pain… real hurt… real action." It's fixed, but it's not fake!

When the Bible says that God chose you before the foundation of the world to be His son/His daughter through Jesus Christ, He's not saying the pain is fake… it's real! The action is real! The loss is real! It's not fake, but it is fixed. And the fix is this: you win in the end!

Before the creation of the world, God decided the outcome of your life. He fixed the fight for you. You win! Because Jesus conquered, you too will conquer. Because Jesus rose from the dead, you too will rise from the dead!

So here's the lesson: if you win in the end, then guess what? You're winning right here and now! If you know today that your story ends in Happily Ever After… well… that oughta fill you with real hope...

Chosen

Before the creation of the world, God decided the outcome of your life. He fixed the fight for you. You win! Because Jesus conquered, you too will conquer. Because Jesus rose from the dead, you too will rise from the dead!

‘Cause, the troubles are not fake, but the outcome was fixed when our good and gracious God decided… you win! So put on the championship belt today… in your underwear if you want… because in Jesus, you are the champion of the world!