Friday, May 3, 2013

“A Month of Thankfulness” Devotional Series (Day 3)”


God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation

SIH’s Think On These Things: 2 Thess 2:13-14”

 

 

2Thess 2:13-14 (KJV)

13) But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

14) Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

In our last devotion, we saw that our Lord loved us with an unconditional love that will stretch throughout the future eternally.  In our text for this morning, we find that it was this same unconditional love that gave birth to His choice to save His people from their sins.  Notice how it is stated in our text…

 

But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: 

We are indebted to God to thank Him for the love He has shown to our spiritual brothers and sisters in Christ.  It was this love that motivated our God to choose to save us.  This choice was made before the world began and was applied to man through the Holy Spirit’s intervention and faith in the truth of His Word. 

 

Folks, the Bible speaks clearly to us as Christians … without His initial choice to save us and others equally guilty of sin, we would be eternally condemned to face God’s judgment for those sins.  If God would have simply “stood back” and allowed this sinful world to go on its merry path, no one would see their need of salvation, desire that salvation, nor come to Him for that salvation... Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and [that] your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. (Jhn 15:16) ;  We love him, because he first loved us. (1John 4:19) etc etc  

 

Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our text continues by explaining to us that His choosing us to salvation resulted in His direct intervention in our lives issuing the invitation to salvation through the gospel message.  As He graciously applied the truths of the gospel to our hearts through faith, it worked forgiveness of our sins, adoption into His family, and a secure guarantee of and eternity with Him in glory.

 

As we continue thinking of all the many reasons why we should be thankful to the Lord throughout our lifetime, let’s always remember to appreciate His choice to save His people from their sins.  It is only because He chose to save us that we now know that our eternity is secure in Him… For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.  What shall we then say to these things? If God [be] for us, who [can be] against us? (Rom 8:29-31)

 

May the Lord bless us as we “Think On These Things”.

 




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