The Day's End (4th Day 125)

We are chosen by Christ before the world was; it is our free will to accept the Grace offered us. I don't pretend to understand God's mind more than He reveals it to us through prayer, action and scripture. God acts in our lives and will use us to His Good Purpose whether we like it or know it or not. It is still up to us to willingly do His Will; but His Will will be done.

Salvation is offered to all who will receive it and it is in the offering that we are chosen. Is everyone chosen? I don't know. But I know that God revealed Himself to me in my life and offered me His Grace. That's how I know He chose me first, how I know that I was chosen.

How God offers His Grace to others, and how they respond, I don't know. That's why we are cautioned not to judge whether others are saved or not, because only God sees into their hearts and knows what decisions they will make. It is on the hearts of men that God writes His Law and it is our hearts that drive us to repentance.

Those who harden their hearts and reject God's Grace are lost. Jesus tells us that the unpardonable sin is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. But to commit such a sin requires the total and absolute rejection of God's Grace, and more than that, it is to scoff with contempt at the Love offered. One cannot blaspheme God's Spirit without first recognizing it, and once recognized, we must either accept God's Grace or reject it.

I don't know anyone else's story but mine. I don't know when God spoke or how He spoke to my family. I only know that He spoke to them and they believe; that's all I need to know.

We should never think that God chose us more than someone else. That may or may not be true, but that is God's business, not ours. If we think that, our Pride will cause us to fall prey to Satan's deceptions and lead us on paths away from God's Will.

Don't misunderstand what I am saying. I believe without a doubt or exception that we can only enter the Presence of the Father through Jesus the Son, and it is through Jesus that we are made Perfect and Holy. But, because it is not by my own actions that I make myself worthy (it is Jesus that makes us worthy), I can never think that I am "better" than the Jew or Muslim. But I should pray that God will draw them to Him and that they will accept His Grace when offered.

I'm not sure that I have made myself any clearer than before, but I sure did say a lot. Let me add this final thought concerning being chosen. Jesus says that because God loved the world, that He gave his Son, not because He loved the Jews (or any other group), but because He loved the world. That's why I believe that in the offering we are "chosen", we become the Elect when we accept the Offering.