According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Ephesians 1:4
Friends of ours from Nigeria were a happy and loving Christian couple, and they raised a lovely family. One day during a conversation with us, they surprised us by by relating how their marriage back in Nigeria was arranged. Before they were married, they barely knew each other. In our western society, we look on such arranged marriages as strange, and wonder how well they work out, compared to our custom of marriages where two people fall in love and decide together to tie the knot. For our friends, it worked out well. And statistically, couples in arranged marriages have a much lower divorce rate than couples who marry for love. The ideal in arranged marriages is for parents to wisely choose a partner for their child, on the theory that the parents will know best who would make a good partner. It’s an interesting concept, to have someone else choose your life’s partner. How about someone else choosing your life’s goals? That’s exactly what our text says God has done for us!
Ephesians 1 is a listing of the spiritual blessings we have in Christ. The first blessing on the list is God’s choice for us of a life that is holy and without blame before Him in love. When He saved us, God gave us a holy and blameless standing before Him. Our sins are gone, and our acceptance into God’s presence is forever guaranteed. When the devil daily accuses us before God, our Saviour daily presents the value of His precious blood as the atonement that has made us holy and blameless. And the devil’s accusations get nowhere, because of our holy and blameless standing before God. Now, that is our standing. Our state is not always so clear-cut.
It is God’s choice for us that we our holy and blameless standing grants us eternal access to God’s presence. And we could not change that even if we wanted to. It is also God’s choice for us that our lives here on earth are holy and blameless and a demonstration of His love. Here, we get a choice. We can agree with God’s choice, and be obedient to the Holy Spirit’s instruction and guidance. We can make our Lord’s desires our desires, our Lord’s people our companions, and our Lord’s Word our daily guide. Or we can disagree with God’s choice and live in and for the world that God has saved us from. We can follow our own desires, mingle with the devil’s children, and fail to heed the Bible’s words.
God’s choice for our lives is a great blessing, especially if we agree with His choice. -Jim MacIntosh