“I Chose You!”

Recently I was receiving encouragement as I read a post from a Christian acquaintance when my eyes fell upon this words:  “If you will allow Him..”  Astounded I queried, “Allow Him!?”  Who could possibly be addressed here? Certainly not the One who is “upholding all things by the power of His word,...”  

And then it got worse: “if you will just give Him a chance....” Once again, “A chance!?” Can the Sovereign purpose of our Eternal God be reduced to chance? Weymouth translates Romans 8:28: “Now we know that for those who love God all things are working together for good--for those, I mean, whom with deliberate purpose He has called.”  It is impossible for deliberate purpose and chance to coexist. Or can chance engender purpose? May it never be! The purposed of God are born not according to the will of the flesh, but according to the mandate of God. “Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?” James 3:11 

denial of the power

Yet these statements are no mere anomaly.  Modern evangelicalism is rife with such words as these.  My concern is that we are - whether inadvertently or with intentionality - holding onto a form of godliness rather than being gripped by immutable purpose. The inevitable consequence being the denial of the “power thereof.” The result being chronic and systemic ineffectualness. 

Can such a gospel - if it could even be called so - have any power unto perseverance and fidelity? Christ addresses this issue authoritatively:  "You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.” John 15:16  Prevarication must yield each and every time to absolute verity. 

“These words plainly teach us that our salvation comes only from the favour and gracious goodness of the everlasting God towards us, and of nothing that we do or can deserve.” Geneva Bible - Notes

intercessory confidence

Herein is our intercessory confidence - by this means and this means alone can we approach the Throne of Eternal Providence: “I chose you!” May this truth grasp us to the core of our being and cause us to soar from the doldrums of finite conception and enter into the courts of eternal intent.  For He has caused us to be accepted in the Son of His Love (Ephesians 1:6) - and at the consummation we will be presented to the Lamb by our Faithful Father as the reward for His suffering. 

Volition is in the hands of the Progenitor - and in He alone. “who works all things after the counsel of His will,” Ephesians 1:11 Herein is rooted our confidence and herein we receive the nourishment that yields lasting fruitfulness. And thus all to the praise of His Glory! “Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen.” Psalm 72:19 

The “Apostle of the Heart Set Free” writes: “According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.” Ephesians 3:11-12 

eternal abundance

There is only one type of soil that is capable of grasping and nourishing the precious seed of eternal abundance - it is that which has been plowed, tilled and furrowed by the Great Husbandman.  "Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold." Mark 4:8 Lest we succumb to the allure of deism or the “the man upstairs” phantasm it is also He who causes the growth (1 Corinthians 3:7).

Turning once again to our Savior’s words to His disciples - not to them alone - but also to those that will believe according to their word (John 17:20): "You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go...”

So we go!

Solus Christus - By Christ Alone