A friend constantly worries that she will never be the Christian
that she is supposed to be. She knows this is not a biblical idea, but a
legalistic upbringing drilled the idea into her mind that she must do this and
she must do that and it all must be perfect. In years of effort, she knows she
cannot, yet still hears those demands above the voice of the Holy Spirit telling
her she is saved by grace.
At times, all Christians are attacked by various forms of “you
won’t make it” or “you are not good enough” as our spiritual enemy tries to
steal the assurance God puts in our hearts. The New Testament verses for today reminds
me of one of God’s truths that shoots down those lies. It is the assurance that
God planned our salvation long before we took our first breath:
“And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles. . .” (Galatians 1:14–16)
Going back into Israel’s history, the devotional writer
points to the way God delivered His people from their slavery and continued to
deliver them even after they rebelled against Him:
“Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make known his mighty power . . . . So he saved them from the hand of the foe and redeemed them from the power of the enemy.” (Psalm 106:7-8; 10)
In other words, because God saves rebellious people, surely
He is capable and willing to take care of those who are concerned about being
all He wants them to be.
Going back to His plan, Isaiah wrote of his own calling
and God told Jeremiah the same thing. These prophets were in the mind of God before
they were born. His full intention was to make them recipients of His grace. So
also was John the Baptist:
“Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.” (Isaiah 49:1)“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5)“For he (John) will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.” (Luke 1:15)
We are bound in time by our calendars and clocks, but God is
eternal and knows past, present and future as if all were right now. He sent Jesus
to die before I had committed sin and even before I was born:
“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:8–10)
Fortner says it well: When he first bestowed grace upon us,
the Lord knew that we were totally depraved and sinful. He knew that we were
full of evil and void of good. And though, since our conversion, we have all
been guilty of ingratitude, unfaithfulness and sin of every kind, these things
do not provoke the Lord our God to change his mind and withdraw his sustaining
grace. He knew what we would be before he saved us. He chastens us because of
our sin, like the loving Father he is, but he never withdraws his love. If he
had not intended, from the beginning, to bear with our sin in longsuffering and
patience and to forgive our sin for Christ’s sake, he would never have saved us
and called us in the first place.
^^^^^^^^^^^
Jesus, this is great assurance. It is also great
motivation. You have an eternal plan for my life, and the life of my family and
friends. I cannot see ahead and know what it is, but we are set apart by You for
Your purposes. Nothing can change that. I cannot understand why or how You make
Your choices, but I believe that this information about my eternal calling is
not to stress that choice so much as it is to settle my heart: I am saved by
grace — and I am saved by You who not only makes it happen, but keeps me where You
want me, and eventually will take me from all earthly struggles with sin and doubt
into a glorious eternity with You.