The Wonder of Being Chosen by God

The Wonder of Being Chosen by God

Praise be to the god and father of our lord jesus christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in christ.

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. - Ephesians 1:3,4

One of the delights of marrying is to realize that someone chose you. You are so desired and special that someone wants to spend the rest of his or her life with you!

Someone else chose you a long time ago—God. You were chosen by God. His selection of you has nothing to do with any of your characteristics or qualities.

God chose to declare you holy and blameless before Him apart from your merits and despite your shortcomings. God simply chose you to be with Him. Why did He do this? Because He loves you.

Remember back when you were a bit younger (perhaps a lot younger), when you were in grade school and had to play on teams? Next to being the captain of the team, what was the best thing that could happen?

Wasn’t it being the first one chosen? Of course, it is possible you were never the first one chosen. Maybe you were always the last. The good news is that those days have ended. You are the object of God’s attention.

Our understanding of who God is and how He wants to bless our lives is enriched when we realize He is committed to performing good in our lives.

In his fascinating book The Pleasures of God, John Piper beautifully expresses how God desires to do good to all who hope in Him. Dr. Piper talks about God singing and asks, “What would it be like if God sang?” What do you hear when you imagine the voice of God singing?

“I hear the booming of Niagara Falls mingled with the trickle of a mossy mountain stream. I hear the blast of Mt. Saint Helens mingled with a kitten’s purr.

I hear the power of an East Coast hurricane and the barely audible puff of a night snow in the woods.

And I hear the unimaginable roar of the sun, 865,000 miles thick, 1,300,000 times bigger than the earth, and nothing but fire, 1,000,000 degrees centigrade on the cooler surface of the corona.

But I hear this unimaginable roar mingled with the tender, warm crackling of logs in the living room on a cozy winter’s night.

“I stand dumbfounded, staggered, speechless that he is singing over me—one who has dishonored him so many times and in so many ways. It is almost too good to be true.

He is rejoicing over my good with all his heart and all his soul. He virtually breaks forth into song when he hits upon a new way to do me good.”

Did you catch the significance of how God feels about you and what He wants for you? Do you get a sense of the blessing for which you have been created and chosen?

Dr. Piper compares our relationship with God to a marriage. He goes on to talk about how the honeymoon ends for all married couples. Reality sets in and the level of honeymoon intensity and affection diminishes.

The two people change, and defects become more apparent. But it is different with God:
“God says his joy of his people is like a bridegroom over a bride. He is talking about honeymoon intensity and honeymoon pleasures and honeymoon energy and excitement and enthusiasm and enjoyment.

He is trying to get into our hearts what he means when he says he rejoices over us with all his heart. And to add to this, with God the honeymoon never ends.

He is infinite in power and wisdom and creativity and love. And so he has no trouble sustaining a honeymoon level of intensity; he can foresee all the future quirks of our personality and has decided he will keep what’s good for us and change what isn’t.”

Does that say something to you about your value and worth?