For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. (1 Thessalonians 1:4)
It was time for some new irons, so I visited one of those places where you launch a few balls at a computerized screen with an assortment of clubheads and shafts.
Eventually, I chose Mizuno irons with a medium, floppy old-guy shaft. This combo made the screen cough up the best numbers for me.
Though, for all I know, I got hustled, and the whole gizmo was rigged to get me to buy the more expensive irons. Let the buyer beware, as the saying goes.
If it were an option, I might have considered choosing my parents more wisely. Don’t get me wrong – my folks were great. But they were both near-sighted, and this myopia was amplified in me. An alert first-grade teacher told them, “This kid is as blind as a bat – has to sit in the front row to see what’s written on the blackboard.”
Glasses and, later, contact lenses were a simple and effective solution. (Although an eight-year-old boy is tough on glasses, and there are a lot of pictures of me with my eyeglass frames held together by a clump of tape.)
Obviously, we can choose what golf clubs to buy, but choosing our parents runs into the roadblock of chronology. We can’t do it – can’t swim upstream on the timeline. We didn’t contribute to our conception.
The passage from 1 Thessalonians, above, indicates that the same thing goes for our membership in God’s family as for our earthly family. It was God’s call, God’s work, God’s choice. And while this seems (from our perspective) to be a bit counterintuitive, it’s undeniably a good arrangement.
I mean, who knows if those clubs that I chose were the best irons for me? I’ve had them for about a year now, and it’s not like they’ve taken my mediocre game to the next level. Still can’t putt worth a flip.
But God’s inspired and inerrant Word assures me that His having chosen me certainly takes my life to the next level—eternal life. His choosing restores me to what life was intended to be – immeasurably superior to what we see and experience in this fallen world.
And the fact that He chose me prior to the creation of the universe, which other Bible passages confirm to be the case, is actually beyond comforting. Paul indicates to the Thessalonians that proof of their being chosen is that the gospel was delivered to them in word, power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction.
In short, through Christ’s Church, using God’s means of grace. Through Paul and his gospel message. Through the ever-widening reaches of his three missionary journeys.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for the words and power of your gospel – the information it conveys and the power it holds. In Jesus’ name, amen.