I have given a lot of thought to the above verse. I have been blown away by its implications. Beginning to see salvation from the view and opinion of God has been mind boggling. To think that the God who created us, placed us into this world, knew exactly what would happen, and yet had a plan to put us all in Christ is so difficult to grasp that theologians still debate its reality.
As I think about the truth of this verse and so many others that speak of God's point of view regarding the salvation of man, here's what I have come away with: There is an aspect of salvation that is totally God's. He's done everything that needs to be done. He's overcome every obstacle, eliminated every hindrance, and ensured that mankind was placed in a perfect place to receive the life that they were created to enjoy. This is the heart of God that has been revealed to us. It's the mystery of the Gospel. It's the missing piece to the puzzle of our lives.
There is another aspect of salvation that is totally ours. Not that we could ever do anything to earn it, deserve it, or purchase it; but that we would receive all that God has granted unto us. That we would wake up to the reality of God's unconditional love, see the demonstration of His love at the Cross, and realize the reality of life that is in Jesus. Rejoicing over God's plan doesn't negate the need to respond to what God has made available. It just makes it easier.
If you have read this blog for any length of time, you should know my stance on the finished work of Christ. My belief about what God has accomplished through His Son was to restore mankind back to His original intention. In this place of being in Christ, we understand that the old creation has passed and that all things have been made new. What I'm realizing is that many people struggle with this understanding because we think of our own personal salvation experience. We know what we have lived in, how we felt, and the lostness that we were experiencing. Coming to faith in Jesus released us from the weight of our own sins. It granted us freedom from the guilt, the shame, and the condemnation that we had created through a life of bad choices. Because of that experience (I believe) we struggle to see the plan of God in salvation. Instead, our understanding rests in our personal experience. What we don't realize is that when we came into faith, we were coming into the reality of what God had already planned for our lives.
I want you to take some time this weekend and reflect over this glorious fact. Everything that you have personally experienced as a result of our personal salvation was/is the result of what God chose to do before the foundation of the world. It was God preparing the way for you to be your true self (that which you were created to become). Read these words from the Gospel of John:
He came to His own people,
but they didn’t want Him.
But whoever did want Him,
who believed He was who He claimed
and would do what He said,
He made to be their true selves,
their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
not blood-begotten,
not flesh-begotten,
not sex-begotten. {John 1:11-13}
It's an incredible thought isn't it? We often think that unbelievers are anything but God's children. However, coming into the light just reveals their true selves, their child-of-God selves.
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