Day: December 24, 2012

Remember: Who You Are



If you’re down today, remember who you are.

In Christ, you are a child of God: saved, forgiven, and free.

You have a strong father in Heaven who absolutely loves you, and who actually likes you. It’s why Jesus came to be one of us.

He gets your struggle, he’s alongside you, he’s rooting for you, he will never stop.

We are the sons and daughters of a Heavenly Father who is in control of everything.

We have a Savior who wrote himself into the story of the world to write the final victory on our lives: so nothing else gets the last word but him.

Look no further than the cross and the empty tomb.

You have — right now — a Spirit of courage, bravery, compassion, love, and truth.

Remember: you are His. You are secure forever.


Question: How Could A Loving God “Elect” People?

Anonymous asked:

Growing up, I took God’s love for granted. But when I gave my life to Christ and read the bible, my view of God changed. I began to see God as holy and how sinful I was, and Grace became beautiful and I feared him. It made sense that out of grace, a holy God would save undeserving elect. But I still can’t understand God’s love. If God also loved everybody so intimately, why would He only save some? Thus I get God’s holiness and grace, but have a hard time believing God loves me personally. 😦


A very awesome testimony and thank you for sharing.  But GASP.  You don’t believe God loves you? Do you know who struggles with this?

Well: everyone.  It was essentially the first lie we ever heard in the Garden, and we’ve believed that lie in some form ever since. So you’re not alone in that.

About God saving some and not others: That’s about half the truth here.  I think “predestination” sweeps the floor of our theology so much because it feels dirty to say “free will,” as if human-choice somehow infringes upon God. 

But remember: God made free will, which is part of what makes us human.  It was almost a risk.  He knew it would end in disobedience and suffering, but that is the risk of sentient humanity. 

So God saves us AND people choose.  Both are true.  While God woos us and draws us and loves us and has done all the saving work, we must still respond.  To only say “God elects” is also to say, “People have no say in the matter,” which is plain bad theology.

I do believe in God’s election, but somehow in a mysterious way, it also works with human free will.  You can find Bible verses to support both sides.  Apostle Paul could say predestined and choose in the same breath, because in his mind there was no conflict.  We need to be careful of putting two doctrines in a ring and letting them go at it, because that doesn’t help anyone. 

How both predestination and free will work: I don’t know.  Are we allowed to have mysteries anymore?  I leave that sort of paradox to be reconciled by God.

Continue reading “Question: How Could A Loving God “Elect” People?” →