Chosen

 

“Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.”

1 Thessalonians 1:1-7 ESV

 

I’ve often heard that adoptees struggle with feelings of being less than. They feel that, because they aren’t the natural child of their parents, they are less important or less loved. They feel that, because they aren’t natural siblings of their brothers and sisters, they are less accepted.

 

I love the response of their adoptive parents to these feelings. They tell their adopted children that, although they aren’t natural children, they were chosen. I love this because the word “chosen” elevates them. It tells them that their parents, indeed, love them. It tells them that their parents desire them. And it tells them that their parents love and accept them not because they have to, but because they want to.

 

The same is true, I believe, when it comes to marriage. I don’t believe in the whole soul-mates philosophy that permeates society. And some believe that eliminating this belief lessens a person’s value in the relationship.

 

I, however, beg to differ. I believe that being chosen is what elevates our value in the relationship. It tells us that we are loved not because it was ordained. It tells us that we are loved by choice. It tells us that our spouse, it tells us that our romantic partner, desires us above everyone else.

 

However, that being said, many of us struggle with the word “chosen” when it comes to our relationship with God. We struggle with it because it seems to imply that others were not chosen. It seems to imply that, while God loves some and has chosen them to be his own, he has rejected others. It seems to imply that he has destined them to eternal judgment.

 

And this idea contradicts the plain teaching of Scripture. It does so because, according to God’s Word, God wants all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. God does not want any to perish, but all to reach repentance. And Jesus served as the propitiation, or as the atoning sacrifice, for the sin of all people (not only for some).

 

Yet, as we look at the above passage, Paul says that the believers in Thessalonica were chosen by God. This was plain to him because they not only heard the Word as it was brought to them. It came to them in power and the Holy Spirit with full conviction. They also became imitators of both Paul and of the Lord, as they suffered affliction because of their faith. And, in this way, they’d become an example to other believers. In other words, as the Word was preached to them, they had received it. And, as they received it, it had transformed their lives.

 

This gives us a clue regarding what Paul means when he says they were chosen. Although God knows fully who will trust in him and who will not, and although he knows fully who will be saved and who will not, he does not decide this for them. He doesn’t prevent some from coming to faith while he allows it for others. Nor does he prevent some from being saved while he causes it for others.

 

God has ordained that those who believe in him will be saved. He has predestined those who believe to be conformed to the image of Christ. In other words, he has chosen people of faith to be his own. He has chosen those who believe in Jesus to be his own.