Ephesians 1:4-5 (NLT)

“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.”

The first time I mentioned the doctrine of election (or pre-destination) to my teenagers, they immediately fired back with, “That isn’t fair!” I certainly understood their reaction…I had it myself when I encountered today’s verse and this topic in general for the first time. I know there is an element of “fairness” in most people’s resistance to this doctrine, but there is a much bigger elephant in the room that we need to address: our pride.

I used to say “I got saved” or “I came to the Lord” or “I gave my life to Christ”…but not anymore. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that it was God who initiated the relationship…God who pursued it…and God who consummated it. John 6:44 states that nobody can come to Jesus unless the Father draws them. Romans 3:11 goes on to say that there is no one who seeks God. Even the faith we exercised to believe in Christ was given to us as a gift (Eph 2:8-9). God called. God enabled. God saved.

Whenever I teach on this subject I caution people not to get bogged down in the “fairness factor” of it. This doctrine remains a great mystery and does no violence to the reality of free will, so please don’t get caught in that trap. The most glorious treasure in today’s passage is the fact that God came after you! Isn’t that amazing?

And one last thing: He did it because it gave Him great pleasure. Saving YOU gave HIM great PLEASURE! How cool is that?

Amen and Amen.