Out of Millions Lost

Once upon a time, sometime before "In the beginning," God came to a brilliant conclusion. He decided that after He made the world, and displayed His glory throughout the history of this world and through the sacrificial death of His Son, He was going to save you. Before He made anything, He chose to call you, personally, to Himself.

Pause. *Insert hostile comments from Arminian audience.* Yes, I did, in fact, imply Calvinism as truth. Except I like to call it Biblical, rather than Calvinist.

I really don't understand why Calvinism vs. Arminianism is a debate among any Bible-believing Christians. My first and only question to any Arminian is: "Have you ever read Ephesians 1?"

Check this out, starting in verse 3 --

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.

Okay, so we're all on the same page now? Great. Let's move on.

So there's perfect, holy, God strutting around the vast expanse of existence. And He decides that after He creates humankind, and after they sin and defile His name and turn from Him in every way possible, and AFTER He redeems them (while they were yet sinners) by paying the price of the perfect sacrifice to atone for all sins, past, present, and future, He comes up with... you. He made the unbelievable decision to choose you, out of millions lost who have not yet even entered existence. He knew all the sin that would consume your life. He knew of every time you would ever despise His name. He knew every time you would forsake Him for the pleasures of the world. But He chose you anyway.

Why? Because of this one very simple truth: God did not choose you because of who you are, but because of who He is going to make you. When God chose you, He had more than just your conversion in mind. He formulated a plan for your entire life. He envisioned an incredible human being who would be a wholehearted follower of Himself. There was nothing in you that would make God look upon you with favor. It is unfathomable to think that God, in His endless mercy, chose you and me who actively and passionately hated Him. But He knew that His grace has no bounds, and He wants to reveal that to us. He wants to show how He can pick up the worst of sinners and turn them into godly people who live for Him every day. Knowing this, are you actively becoming the person God intends for you to be?