Chosen:
before you spoke
the world, the sky, humanity
into being
Rescued:
from my rotting self
and destiny of darkness, loss,
eternal death
Gifted:
to do my special part
in this Body, your Family,
for your purposes
Sent:
to bring the news
about the Rescuer to others
still hopeless
Planted:
just where you want me
rooted in your love and kindness
to bear good fruit
My mind is blown away when I contemplate the grace that has brought me to this place in my life journey. It was no surprise to God; he had me in mind, “chosen,” before he created the world. He knew what choices I would make, especially the one that would attach me to Jesus Christ! He knows every part of his plan for you, too.
This mystery of “my choice” and “God’s choice” is confusing. Lately in several conversations I have brought up the way my own father, Dwight M. Slater, explained it: “You decide to enter the one Door to salvation, placing your faith in Jesus. There is a sign on the Door that says: ‘Whosoever will, to the Lord may come!’ When you’ve passed through, you shut the door and find that there is another sign on that side of it, ‘Welcome! You were chosen before the foundation of the world!’ “ These “signs” are, of course, based on Scripture verses that state these truths (Romans 10:13; Ephesians 1:4). Yes, God gave us free will, and when he calls us to himself we have a choice to make. He knew whether or not we would choose him; in fact, he had a life plan set in place for us once we were following him. We have both free will and are predestined, whether we understand that or not.
I find it comforting to dwell on this truth and what I mean to him, that he would pay attention to me, so minute in the masses of his people, and even make me into who he wants me to be for his purposes. You are known, too!
13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! (Ps. 139:13-17 ESV)
Jesus made this explicit when he talked with his disciples in those last hours before his arrest. He had chosen them and had a task for them: to bear fruit that would last, a genuine kind of produce that does not spoil. A good question comes up here: did he mean this just for his eleven faithful disciples, or also for those of us who would come after them? The answer is in his wonderful prayer that is recorded in John 17. It comes after he acknowledges that he has completed the task the Father had given him, to teach his disciples the messages from the Father (17:6-8). Now he was sending them out to share these words of truth, and his prayer was both for the disciples and for those would believe in Jesus because they would accept God’s words because of the disciples’ ministry of passing them on. He prayed:
17 Set them apart in the truth; your word is truth. 18 Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. 19 And I set myself apart on their behalf, so that they too may be truly set apart. 20 “I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their testimony, 21 that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. (Jn. 17:1 NET)
Yes, we believe because their writings have shared the truth with us! Jesus prepared the way for us to be one with him and the Father, and one with each other. It is indeed a high and wonderful calling. When we live it out, we also bear lasting fruit. Some say that this “fruit” is righteous living. Others say it is bringing new believers into the Kingdom—preaching the Good News. It is, rather, the complete impact of the life of someone who is truly attached to the Vine, Jesus. As Colin G. Kruse says::
“The context, which stresses that fruit is produced as the disciples maintain their fellowship with Jesus by keeping his word and when Jesus continues to fellowship with them by the Spirit, suggests that fruit refers to the entire life and ministry of those who follow Jesus’ teaching and experience his presence in their lives through the Spirit.”[1]
So where has the Lord planted you? How is your life reflecting his love? That is actually the key, primary ingredient: love. Jesus underlined it multiple times in his last words with his disciples. When he made it clear that they had been chosen by him and prepared for ministry, he emphasized the importance of their reliance on him through prayer and through love for one another:
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that remains, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. 17 This I command you– to love one another. (Jn. 15:16,17 NET)
To have that essential love for one another, agape love that cares about the well-being of another person, is his command. When we live it out, we bear the fruit that he has in mind. And as we grow closer and closer to God, knowing him and his character, his love will increasingly fill us. This is how Jesus put it in his prayer:
6 I made known your name to them, and I will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them, and I may be in them.” (Jn. 17:1 NET)
May it be so! Let’s live it out!
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! 3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ. 4 For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love. 5 He did this by predestining us to adoption as his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of his will– 6 to the praise of the glory of his grace that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son. (Eph. 1:2-6 NET)
[1] Colin G. Kruse, John: An Introduction and Commentary, ed. Eckhard J. Schnabel, Second edition, vol. 4, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 2017), 369.
Linnea's Lines 