What are some of the benefits of being saved? (continued…)
Ephesians 1:3-14
- God chose us (4) and predestined us (5, 11).
Remember playing ball with a group of other kids? What was it like to be chosen? It really did not matter how good or bad of a player you were. It did not matter whose brother or sister you were. It didn’t matter how many times you raised your hand and said, “Pick me! Pick me!” When the team captain picked you, you were on the team. This is the same for any league of sports. It even becomes a hyped-up and popular event at the NFL and other professional sports levels.
This is a good example of how God’s choosing of us in salvation works. On the one hand, we must show up on the playing field and be a righteous contestant, able to be on God’s team. (And how do we receive our righteousness? It is by our faith in Christ – His atoning sacrifice and resurrection). On the other hand, God must also recognize our righteousness and God literally chooses us to be on His team. The good news for us is that “whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame” (Rom 10:11). God chooses every true believer in His only begotten Son to be on His team (i.e. saved).
The mystery here – a mystery that causes much confusion – is the timing of God’s choosing and the meaning of this word “predestined.” In our human thought process, decisions take time. We can remember various circumstances in our lives that led us to recognize our need for Jesus. We can also remember how many days, months, or years we wrestled with the Holy Spirit as He convicted us of our sins and our need for salvation. We can put these on a calendar and share them with others as part of our testimony of being born again. For instance, I was born again when I was 25 years old, in September of 1999. We think in time and our decisions are bound by time.
God, on the other hand, is not bound to think according to our human terms of time. God knows our faith before, during, and after our human schedule of events. Thus, God does not need to anxiously wait to see what will happen in our hearts before He assembles His eternal team of saints. God, as the word “predestined” means, chose us before, not according to time, but “according to the good pleasure of His will” and “according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Eph 5:5 and 11).