Chosen

In the first 14 verses of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians Paul has a lot to say about being chosen.

Ephesians 1

Paul never saw himself as having chosen God but of being chosen by God.

Many years ago, when I was an electrical apprentice, I entered an essay competition. That was way back in 1966. The competition was conducted as part of ‘Apprenticeship Week’ and the title of the essay was to be about “Industrial Safety”. To my surprise I won the competition and the prize of $25, which was worth a lot more back then. I don’t know how many other people entered the competition but my essay had been chosen as the best.

In the first 14 verses of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Paul has a lot to say about being chosen. Paul never saw himself as having chosen God but of being chosen by God. Not only that but he wants his readers to realise that they have all been chosen by God. The same applies to us. Now there are differences of opinion as to what this means, particularly with regard to our will to decide to follow Jesus.

What I want you to focus your attention upon is the great wonder that we have been chosen by God to receive the wonderful blessing as his child. This should lead us, not to argument, but praise and thanks to our great and glorious Father.

Noel McDonough