Afore

Ps.139:^16-17 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!

Eph.1:^4-6 (NRSV) “just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.” (emphasis added). 

When did God choose you? Before the foundations of the world and that is very comforting. God is not starting now to guess what is going to happen to you next. You have been chosen; not when you were born, or when you gave your life to Jesus, or when your parents met, or even when God created the heaven and the earth. You were chosen before! Wow! Way back when, God saw you, and God chose you. Totally comforting!

God chose us to be holy and blameless; we will see this elaborated upon in Ephesians 2. There is so much in Eph.1:4-6; first off is the subject of being holy and blameless. God wants us to be blameless. Secondly, the subject of being destined; God has destined us for life in Christ. The subject of predestination is very wide, but I will try to summarize it. Unfortunately, some people think that predestination means they can do whatever they want, and it would not matter. They erroneously think once God has chosen them, they will make heaven. They can be wife beaters, company looters, they can wreak havoc and go free because they have been chosen of the Lord.

That is not what predestination means. Predestination here means from a foreknowledge standpoint, not from an action determination standpoint. Simply put, it means that God knew that Pharaoh was going to harden his heart because God is all-knowing. But Pharaoh still had to choose to harden his heart; Pharaoh had a choice. God will never override the concept of the choice of man. Even if God wants to bless you and has predetermined to bless you, you still have to position yourself to be blessed. That is how predestination works in a nutshell.

Eph.1:^7-8 (NRSV) “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us….” God lavishes His grace upon us. Again, when we get into Ephesians 2, we are going to see this elaborated. God lavishes His grace upon us, God does not mince His grace for us.

Prayer: Father, thank You for choosing me, according to the good pleasure of Your will for my life, I will live my days holy and blameless before You in love, in Jesus Name. Amen!