The letter to the church at Ephesus was written to a community of Christ followers by Paul. Paul was writing to shape their identities in the gospel. He was so excited about writing to them about Jesus that he started his letter with a single, huge, sentence that contains seven verbs: blessed, chose, destined, bestowed, lavished, made known, and gather up.
The second word, “chose” is found in Eph 1:4:
…even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
How remarkable is this that God chose us before we could have ever done something earn his favor?
I asked the kids in our missional community about being chosen on the playground. It was clear that you didn’t want to be chosen last. Being chosen last meant that you weren’t any good, that you weren’t known, and that nobody respected you. But, being chosen first meant the opposite! You were good at the game, you were known, or you were respected.
God did the ultimate “choosing first”. He did it “before the foundation of the world.” How beautiful and wonderful is that!?
Eugene Peterson says it this way,
And yes, God chose us. It wasn’t a last-minute thing because he felt sorry for us and no one else would have us, like a stray mutt at the dog pound, or an orphan whom nobody adopted. He chose us “before the foundation of the world.” We are in on the action, long before we have any idea that we are in on the action. We are cosmic.
Practice Resurrection, 59
I love that, “we are cosmic”! How do you feel knowing that God chose you? That he picked you from “before the foundation of the world”?
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