Chosen Few

 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loves us, and dispatches His Son, a propitiatory shelter concerned with our sins.  

1 John 4: 10, Concordant New Testament 

A friend once told me that Jesus chose us, we did not choose Him.  Seems about right when you consider the circumstances as to why Jesus came to be our Savior in the first place.  It is Christ who gives of Himself that our sins would be forgiven {John 3:16-17}.  Long before we took our first breath, it is Jesus who took an interest in us.  He chose us.  Now, I can hear many a Christian claiming that they themselves made that choice to accept Jesus into their life, and that's a good thing.  But is our choice to accept Christ really the beginning of the process?  I think most will admit that we were loved by God long before we chose to accept Jesus.  He loved us enough to create us in His own image {Genesis 1:27}.  He loved us despite the fact that our sin condition went against all that He is.  Yet despite our sin, God sent His Son to redeem us from it {Romans 5:8}.  We are chosen...by God.  So, you might feel good inside when you choose to cast aside what you once deemed important in your life for the sake of Jesus, but the fact remains that it is Jesus who chose you.  I think of where I would be without the love of the Father who sacrificed His Son on my behalf.  When you get down to it, it is because of the love of the Father that He chose me.  His love for me would not allow me to suffer the consequences of my sin.  I am well aware of the penalty of the sin nature I once carried {Romans 3:23}.  Yet that penalty was suffered by Jesus at the cross.  Again, Jesus chose the path to the cross knowing full well what was ahead of Him.  This He did for me.  Who does that?  Can we point to anyone we have ever met who, knowing they were facing death, instead chose to give of themselves that others would live {John 5:13}?  The fact is, you might think that you have chosen Jesus, but the Fathers gift to you came long before that decision was ever made {Hebrews 1:3}.  

Greater love than this has no one, that anyone may be laying down his soul for his friends.

John 15: 13, Concordant New Testament 

My mother used to tell me when I was young that God loved me before I was even born.  You could say that I had a good idea of the history of who I was even before I made up my own mind to choose Jesus.  It may seem a bit backwards, but many people already know a bit about God and Jesus before they make the decision to choose Him in their life.  Everyone likes to be on the winning team right?  I mean, most people already know how it will end for our accuser in the future.  Does our choosing Jesus come down to simply not wanting to go to hell?  Possibly.  But I had different reasons for making my choice.  I still get emotional when I think of what Jesus endured for me.  The persecution.  The painful scourging.  His death on the cross.  Jesus made it a point during His ministry to remind those who would listen what awaited Him at the hands of the religious authorities of the day {Matthew 20: 17-19}.  Jesus was well aware what awaited Him.  Yet He willingly accepted it all for me {2 Corinthians 5:21}.  I believe that at the very root of the gift all have received from the Father is love.  Not our love for Him, but His love for us.  Greater love hath no man, that he would lay down his life for his friends. 

Yet God is commending this love of His to us, seeing that, while we are still sinners, Christ died for our sakes. 

Romans 5: 8, Concordant New Testament 

~Scott~