Thursday, September 1, 2011

EMMDEV 2011-09-01 [Ephesians] Blessing 1: Chosen

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. Ephesians1:4

Our universe is not here by accident. WE are not here by accident.

When God created the world it was with us in mind. He created us to be holy and blameless in His sight. Some people say that God made us because He was lonely - but this is not true. The Trinity: Father, Son and Spirit share a love so perfect that they are one.

God created us for His glory and pleasure so that we could see and understand His awesomeness and respond in worship. He gave us free will so that we could choose to be holy and blameless in His sight.

But free will means that we can also choose NOT to be holy and blameless. Did God consider this? What would He do if we made the wrong decision?? From the very outset, the Scriptures make it clear that it was God's plan to send His Son to redeem fallen humankind.

A friend of ours, James Greaves, put it like this: "When God was creating the world and He used his pinkie to make the Grand Canyon and heaped up the rocks to make Everest, did He pause when He made Golgotha?"

Our first blessing is that we are twice-chosen by God: Before He created the world, He thought about us - He chose us to be made in His image to reflect His holiness and glory. But because we had the potential to reject Him, He chose us again in view of the redeeming work that Christ would do.

So there is a sense that Christ was already crucified in the mind of God when He created us. God knew what creating us might cost and yet He made us anyway!

Amazing love! We are twice chosen in Christ!

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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/