THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

From an old sinner for whom Christ died.

6th Sunday after Pentecost July 12, 2009
Second Lesson Ephesians 1:3-14

This is a remarkable passage about predestination: how God has chosen
us from the foundations of the world, as it reads, "...even as he
chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be
holy and blameless before him. He destined us in love to be his sons
(/daughters) through Jesus Christ,..."(1:4-5a).

God does the choosing and declares us holy and blameless through
Christ, regardless of our sins as well as our sinfulness that is
hidden from our conscious minds.

THE QUESTION AT HAND is this: Do we fit in here somewhere or we are
excluded? Is predestination for others and not for us?
If one views the message of Scripture in a static sense, that is,
ideas on a page, then one can step back from it and look at it from
afar. This allows for all kinds of speculation about God, others,
ourselves, whose saved, whose not, etc.

HOWEVER the Message of Scripture is not a static reality but a DYNAMIC
REALITY. That is, it draws us into the message and places the message
around us and in us.

SO when it reads in this Lesson, "you" its means you, the one reading
this. When it reads "us" it means you and me as well as others. This
is the significance of predestination. It places all of the action
with God and none with you and me.

Verse 13 emphsizes the fact that "believing" is an act of the Holy
Spirit not our doing. Thus the words apply to you and me.
"In him YOU also, WHO have heard the word of truth, the gospel of YOUR
salvation, and have believed in him were sealed with the promised Holy
Spirit, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until WE acquire
possession of it, to the praise of his glory"(1:13-14).

As Brother Martin Luther wrote and we learned in Confirmation
instruction, from his "Small Catechism," "I believe that I CANNOT by
my reason or strength (understanding or effort) believe in Jesus
Christ my Lord or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by
the Gospel enlightened with his gifts and sanctified and kept me in
the true faith."

And so he has for YOU and for ME.

THANKS BE TO GOD in Jesus Christ our Lord!

@ Dick Smith