God Has Chosen You

By: Rob Morton

1 Peter 2:9

But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

 Ephesians 1:4

just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him In love

 

Ephesians 1:4-5

 

He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

Let’s think about why it would be an encouragement to the church that God had chosen them.

These Christians faced ridicule, and persecution, and rejection every day. Paul writes in verse 6: “for you received the word in much affliction.” There was violent protest against the gospel and the church right from day one (see Acts 17.1-9).

Many of the people in the church would have feared for their safety at some point, some would have been excluded by their friends, some would even have been cut off from their families. So can you see how powerful it would have been, and how encouraging it would have been, to read Paul’s words “we know brothers, LOVED by God, that he has chosen you”.

• Are you hated by your neighbors for being a Christian? Well… you are loved by God.
• Are you excluded by your friends or family? Well… God has chosen you to belong to him!

Perhaps you find that idea surprising – that God had chosen these people to join his church? But the idea that God chooses a people to bless and to save is as old as the Old Testament itself.

God made it clear that he had chosen to love Israel, to bless Israel, to rescue Israel from slavery over every other nation. And God chose to do this NOT because Israel was anything great or spectacular – God chose to love and bless them because he promised he would!