SAVED TO BE A SON. Ephesians 1:5 God established that those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will become His children and co-heirs with Him. Predestination is not simply a calculated, cold-hearted decision that God makes or an act of fate or human choice. Instead, by a loving choice on God’s part, we are presented with the truth of the Gospel, and through the convicting power of the Holy Spirit working through God’s Word, we believe what we hear and personally accept Jesus Christ as our Savior.
There is a purpose in choosing an object when we need that item for a specific task. A hammer is chosen to drive a nail. A pan is selected for a particular use when cooking a meal. God's people have been chosen, foreordained by God, to be made like Christ [Rom.8:29]. God has a predetermined reason for those He has elected. It is God's goal to make us like Christ. God's purpose for His own people was not an accidental afterthought. He intends us to be individuals who will serve and honor Him.
God has always known who we are, and His love and grace have been directed toward us becoming who He intended us to be and doing what He intended us to do. This becomes real to us when we read His Word to maintain fellowship with Him by listening to Him and then applying ourselves to becoming like Christ. Through prayer and understanding what our Lord was like when He was here as a man among men, we respond by seeking to be Christ-like.
Behind the events that occur in life are God’s sovereign plans that, to me, are often unknown. Some will eventually come clearly into view as time goes on, and some will only be revealed after the Lord takes me home. But it is enough for me to know I have been predestined to love and serve the eternal Living God. I truly long to be honest and truly dedicated to following the Lord's leading in genuine faith, not as an infant who naturally responds to love but as a spiritually mature child of God.
According to His electing grace, He has set us apart, marked us out beforehand, and then saved us according to His plans. Those plans didn’t just mean He was going to save us, but He was going to make us personally involved in those plans. As His children, we have a vested interest in all He is doing now and will do in the future. We are limited at this time to most of what that means because we only know what He has put in our hands to accomplish. For His own reasons, we have been chosen to serve Him and be blessed by Him. Every saved person is a child of God by the new birth, but according to the good pleasure of His will, we have been publicly placed as adult sons to serve Him openly with heartfelt enthusiasm, making it possible for us to be to the praise of His glory.
There was an ancient practice of adoption, where a trusted servant could be brought into a family with all the benefits and privileges that came with it, including becoming an heir. The adopted individual would have the same rights as biological children regardless of their previous social status. The person being adopted and the adopter would publicly declare, "Thou art my father," and the father would respond, "Thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee." When that happened, the adopted person was considered destined to represent everything that belonged to the adoptive father.
This is the relationship into which we have been brought. The only motivating factor in the adoption process was the father's will. What motivates the one who was adopted to please his new father is gratitude for being chosen, love for the one who chose to set his love on an undeserving person, and a desire to please his new father in any way possible. All of these motivating factors remain true for us today because God chose to set His love on us, make us His children, and make us "joint heirs with Christ."
This is what unites the people of God today. True children of God understand that we are in the body of Christ because God has placed us there by His own sovereign will. We have confessed, "Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Everyone in that universal body is there because God wants us to function like an "intact body" should properly function. Many who have been born again into the family of God and are part of that body do not realize the significance or impact of being positioned as an adult son or daughter in this noble holy role.
To openly confess Jesus Christ as Lord and to declare to the Almighty God, "Thou art my Father," is a significant act. This is not the simple speech of a young child who says, "I love you" to a loving parent without understanding all that it implies. Instead, it is the confession of a mature person who recognizes they have been embraced into a loving relationship with God and understands they represent Him in every part of their life. There are far too many "spiritual infants" who do not grow beyond their initial "I love You" to God and then remain as children for their entire lives.
Predestination, as presented here, does not focus on what it means to be a child of God and brought into a kinship, but rather on being placed into the body of Christ and how this relates to our service. The goal is our connection to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Head of the body. He always did "those things that pleased the Father." We should also be committed to that same purpose. He modeled the kind of human God intended when He was here on earth as "God with us" and "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." "God was manifest in the flesh" should be true of us in the same way it was true of Him. We are to live holily, righteously, and godly in this present world." He was identified as the Son of God, the Son of the Father when He was here. We are to "glorify God in our bodies and spirits which are God's." Our salvation is His work, so the designation of who we are and what He has gifted us to do is up to the "good pleasure of His will."
By now, I should have given much of myself to those things that praise and honor my gracious Lord if I have the right attitude toward others, which shows the truth that I teach and practice. The holy service I am called to do should publicly declare God's Word and its value to those I influence before my life ends. If I could bring some lasting pleasure to my God, my life would be worthwhile.
He who poured Himself out without measure needs to find some good reason from me to be satisfied. For me, my daily goal is to gladly do His will and, in some way, accomplish a task each day that will bring Him glory. If, as a grateful son, I can honor Him and work still, even though I am old, I will pray that I can bring some joy to Him.