He wants you. He likes you. He chose you.
Reading Time: 5 mins
Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do and it gave Him great pleasure.
Ephesians 1:4-5
I was recently talking to a friend who told me how she couldn’t make sense of why God would want to use her. Why would He even think well of her enough to speak to her or even give her gifts? A lot of us may be in the same boat.
You may have grown up in a family where you didn’t feel valued. We may feel like we had to earn love through our performance or our service to others. We may feel like we have to perform our way into community by our academic, athletic or other accolades. But I want to break down the truths in this text like I did with my friend. We spent our hour-long convo crying, thanking God, and rededicating ourselves to Him as we felt His peace and love around us. With this study, I pray that same experience can be yours.
I want to start from the end of this verse. “This is what He wanted to do and it gave Him great pleasure.” What we are talking about here wasn't a chore or a mundane task. This is something God looked forward to. This made Him happy. He wasn't forced or coerced or tricked. This is like you going to the beach or hanging out with friends. This is something that made Him happy. And what was the “this” we are talking about? Choosing you. You are a delight in His eyes.
In high school, I played 3 sports, sang in a choir, and helped on the recruitment team so I spent a lot of time on buses. There was always a fight to be on the fun bus. We had to get on the bus that would have the best jokes and most fun people. We chose what brought us pleasure. And that’s what God is doing here. He wanted to choose you and that choice made Him happy.
I remember moving schools or states and feeling like I needed to be the coolest, most funny, and most athletic to be liked. Yet, the creator of the universe, before organizing planets or creating physics, decided that His first order of business was to have fun and that fun was loving and choosing you. This is what He wanted to do and it had nothing to do with you. Why do I say that? The Bible says he chose us in advance before the world was even made. I don't know where that time fits on a clock or a calendar, but I know it points to the excitement, passion, and seriousness of the choice God made. This is before you could’ve done anything to earn His love, so it must not be dependent on you appeasing God. God chose to love you before you could even strategize how to make Him like you. God chose you. God wanted you. God continues to want you.
I don't care if your dad walked away. I don't care if your mom doesn’t understand you. Before you could even prove your worth or that you had value, before you could convince Him, God wanted you.
I love that this letter of Ephesians was written to Jews and gentiles. Jews were descendants of Abraham. They were the church people who felt like the church belonged to them. They were born into it. But the gentiles were different. “Gentile” was a name the Jews gave to anyone who wasn’t in their family. Another aspect I love is the language: we were adopted into His family. This language of adoption is reminding us that no matter how you may have started or what type of situation or family you were born into, you were chosen and given the same inheritance, protection, love and family name of the people who were there their whole life. Adoption is a choice. I am choosing to provide for someone who can’t earn their way into my love. I’m choosing to give to someone who can't give back. I’m choosing to care for someone who may not do everything right. Adoption is a choice to give someone your name.
Being chosen and brought into God's family means He isn’t embarrassed by you. God actually wants you.
I want you to read this with your name in it.
Even before He made the world, God loved ____ and chose ___ in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. God decided in advance to adopt ____ into His own family by bringing ____ to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what God wanted to do and it gave Him great pleasure.
God wanted you. You have access to every spiritual blessing because you are united with Christ. That’s what the verse before this says. You have the inheritance. Imagine you found out that the richest person in the world put you in their will before you were born and you had access to everything they had? Now imagine that person also supplies peace, joy, patience, security, protection, provision, passion, and everything you didn't even know you needed? That’s what God has already worked out for us. God is always saying “I will” or “I have”. He is the one bringing you. He is the one supplying. The only action we are called to do is turn to Him and let Him lead us.
God wants you.
And it’s not because you earned it.
It’s because He wants you and a King gets what He wants.
Believe that.
It may be hard to stomach. We have been taught that action on our part must precede action on the part of others. But this isn't the case. We have it out of order. Before you could do right, be right, or think right, God chose you. So guess what your only option of response is? To follow. I love that after verse 5, Paul just says “so we praise God for the glorious grace He poured out on us who belong to His son.”
Your response to this action started by the hand of God is to praise. And what is praise? What is worship? What is thanks? Paul in Romans tells us that.
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
Romans 12:1
This gift of being chosen is the best ever. And our reaction is to give ourselves. This is how we worship. God chose you and you can respond by choosing Him back. God opened the door and is allowing you to go in. The peace is there. Purpose is there. Joy is there. Do you want to go in?
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This ministry is a faith journey for me. God told me to start it two years ago and it was free for me to run it. Then, more people subscribed and I had to buy new software to accommodate them. Then, God told me to upgrade the website, hire an editor, and upgrade the software to send the messages. Then, it happened again. But God keeps providing and now more than 35,000 texts have been sent out and God continues to sustain a ministry I would not have been able to sustain two years ago. Thank you for continually praying, sharing, and partnering through donations so that we can continue to share the peace and practicality of Jesus efficiently and effectively. You can pledge a continual donation or make a one-time donation through the donate tab or through Cash App ($ThoughtsByPace). I really do appreciate you for the impact you're making.
