“For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love. He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will…”

Today, I’m speaking to the one who wrestles with doubting their salvation—then uses the guilt that wrestling produces as a reason to flog yourself. The Truth is you really do know Him in that deepest part of yourself—you know you are truly His. That He came to you and chose you. So why all this questioning? Why the doubts and the fears that follow after them?

The answer beloved is that your focus is out of focus. Your looking to yourself and not to Christ for the Truth of who you are. Is it any wonder then that you’re struggling? “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” Galatians 2:20. As we begin to fully take in just what it is that God has done for us, in Christ Jesus, the weight of that revelation will send us to our knees! We’ll then begin to know true humility on a first named basis. Not only did God specifically choose Christ to fulfill His redemptive plan—He equally chose you as a part of it as well!

First Christ, then you in Him. Humbling, isn’t it? The thought of you and Christ found in the same sentence…

The thought that you are so loved by God. Predestined to be His now, and for all eternity. He doesn’t want you to miss one second of time spent in His presence! The Sovereign God of the universe, Creator of heaven and earth, and all that fill them, has chosen you! And all of this before one single blade of grass had ever broken free of the soil. More specifically—before there ever was soil; or stars, snails, clouds, rain, sun, deer, or Adam. Long before it all—God had chosen you for Himself—in His Son. You were already His as they stood—the Trinity, over the dark void. You are saved in Christ Jesus because God chose you to be! Yet, though chosen, you are nevertheless responsible to guard this precious salvation as one guards his home and his most prized possessions from robbers, with greatest vigilance and care…

Our salvation is from God alone; we cannot boast in our being able to bring it about, somehow offering it to ourselves. Willing it, by hook or by crook, into existence; as a child wills their imaginary friend to come and help fill their empty hours with play. Yet, we must care for it, guarding it. Our being chosen in Christ and our responsibility in His choosing of us that is. These are inseparable.

“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” –1 Corinthians 1:27-30.

You, my struggling brother, my sister, wresting still with the surety of your salvation, are those foolish, weak, lowly, and despised “things” God chose when, looking at us, no one would ever have believed we’d one day belong to Him. We the broken and filthy, the lowly and guilty, all those who know that we know, had it not been for His election of us; for that merciful reaching-out of His most precious hand across time and eternity—at precisely the right time, salvation would not be ours. Certainly we said yes. But which came first, His calling us, or our answering Him? As for me, I lean into His calling of us. I was too broken—too incapable, to sin-stained to even think about my name and Christ’s in the same sentence. Of His wanting me—never mind choosing me; of His having a plan for my life or of being useful or used by God.

If redemption were our choice (if we could choose to be saved, to somehow ask Jesus to come into our lives, truly—minus His first tugging on our hearts, offering Him the place of honor at the table of our lives, surely) our salvation would have passed us by—busy as we were wallowing in our sins, chasing after them; as blindly and as fully as our prodigal brother did. That goes for you too—son or daughter of the pastor. Raised in the church yet full of resentment and doubt and rebellion—longing to be free from it all. To live your own life. Or you, the one who strived to do it all right. You who genuinely wanted Christ. Who believed what the priest said—what your parents said—you, whose heart never chose to wander off chasing after what others did—or wanted to do. Nonetheless, sin separated you too from ever having a right relationship with God.

And now though, now that it is yours, you must do all that you can, by the grace of God, to safe-guard your heart and mind against everything that will try to steal that Truth out from under you. Leaving you foundation-less. A builder who cannot build. The Truth is this. If you, any of you, have truly been chosen in Christ, by God, then you are saved. Period. How do I know this for certain? Because God Himself said it. And, as He also said, “God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?” –Numbers 23:19.

If you have faith in Jesus Christ beloved it is solely because it was given you by God, our Father. It is a free gift. As is your salvation and the Holy Spirit who indwells you…

We all get momentarily lost, my brother and sisters, when our focus shifts between Christ’s finished work and our ever-changing situations, circumstances, and trials. More specifically, on to how we feel about the Truth of our salvation. How  we view its certainty, its guarantee. But we must fight through those false and shifting feelings using the armor Christ has provided us. As John says: “I write this letter to you who believe in the Son of God. I write so that you will know that you have eternal life now” –1 John 5:13. What John is saying, in other words, is that our sure fidelity to Christ does not guarantee that we will always have so firm a confidence in Christ. John Piper says it this way: “Faith can be real when the feelings of assurance are weak.” Our flesh is weak and will always fails us. Hence, why we must, we must, always trust God. Trust only what He says about us. After all, it is His finished work in Christ Jesus that will forever have the final Word. Now, with that in mind beloved, let us settle this matter of our being saved in Christ—chosen by God—once and for all. God is as faithful to bring the whole Truth of this revelation about, this certainty you possess, as surely as He was true in His choosing of you. Therefore, concerning being settled on this blessed assurance which we possess—have been entrusted with, let no man, no circumstance, trial or test, no battle or temptation, neither any competing voice of the enemy of our soul, nor your own words, negate Gods Truth “Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one–for God himself has given us right standing with himself” –Romans 8:33.

My Brothers and sisters remember that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Therefore, I pray your strength today. May God do a quick work of re-minding you of His Truth.

Dear friend, if you’re here today for the first time, or if you’ve returned, feeling somehow drawn back, I pray this Word has spoken to your heart. Know that it is this same God who you’ve just read about that is calling you to Himself. Won’t you please invite Him into your life as both Lord and Savior now?

If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world –John 15:16.