To Be Chosen, Surrender to Him : He Wants You!

I’m sure you remember Jesus’ follower named Peter, don’t you? Peter wrote two letters to Christians during a time God’s Family was experiencing a lot of pain and difficulty.

But his first letter doesn’t start, “Dear Christians”... rather, his letter starts with a glorious explanation of what it means to be a “christian”—a little anointed one.

Peter wrote, “Dear foreigners temporarily living in this world... you who are chosen by God... chosen according to what God already knew about you... chosen by being set apart by the Spirit for obedience and Covenant cleansing by the blood of Jesus, the Anointed. May Grace and Peace fill your cup to overflowing.”

That brings up an important question. At least one of you asked, “What does it mean to be chosen by God? And, “Oh, no, what if God doesn’t choose me to be one of those set apart as special and washed by His blood?” Peter just answered that question right here! So, let’s dig in.

What Peter just explained is that God chooses based on what God already knows... because He is all-Knowing, Omniscient. Time is nothing to God. He already Knows who He Knows He’s gonna know. He sees the end from the beginning, so He knows what choice each of us is going to make.

So God’s choosing is based on what God already knows about us and our choices.

Both Peter and Paul said that God’s Pre-choosing is based on God’s pre-knowing.

Paul told the Romans, “For those God knew before time, God also destined beforehand that they would be made like His Son” and Paul told the Ephesians, “In Him we were chosen, destined beforehand according to His plan.” And Peter says, “to those chosen because of what God already knew about you... you are a chosen people.”

And later in this same letter Peter says that God is not like humans with our self-centered judgments, prejudices, or favoritisms. God simply knows already what everyone is going to choose—Him or their self.

The Bible says that “God wants everyone to be saved.” And that the whole world has the chance, everyone is “without excuse.”

Everything was created by and through Christ, the Anointed. From the very beginning God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen. They can be understood from what has been created, so people have no excuse for not knowing God.

Christ, the Logos, the Anointed is woven into the fabric of creation, and you are a part of creation. So not only does God Testify of Himself through the wonders of the sky and trees and flowers, but He testifies of Himself in your insides. That’s why when you sin it feels dark inside. That’s why when you give or love or tell the truth, it feels right inside. And that’s why everyone feels an empty place in their heart, that only God can fill.

Moses, David, Jesus, and John all talk about the Book of Life... the story of Supernatural Life... and how names can be whited out or washed out of that book.

Everyone’s names start in the book... with God offering everyone the opportunity to come to Him and Know Him.

But if you push God away because you want to live your own selfish life... or if you just want to be a good little human with only natural human life mixed with a little false religion, then your name fades out of the book of Supernatural Life.

The Biblios of Zoe... The Book of Life... The Story of Supernatural Life... To keep your name in that book, you have to make choices to become part of His supernatural life, which is Knowing Him and Sharing in His DNA.

Everyone has a chance to SEE and Submit to Christ, the Anointed. All the way back in the garden, man and woman had the ability to choose. And you do too. Your choices are your choices. They are not predetermined for you.

And what exactly is the ultimate choice? Peter answered this, too. Will you be a foreigner, a stranger in this world? Will you let go of living for the temporary stuff all around you, and believe Him for something way better and greater than living for yourself, and everything you want, want, want right now in this temporary life?

Will you by Faith look past the glass of this temporary world and jump through to the other side where He is? If we will, then He gives us His Spirit and His Supernatural Zoe Life. But there’s no fooling Him by saying some religious words or going through some religious actions.

Without faith...Without letting go of living for the temporary stuff... then He won’t choose you for His Spirit and Covenant Cleansing.

Even Jesus had this same choice. He was a man, just like us, and He could have chosen to live for His flesh nature. But He didn’t. So, He was chosen to be the firstborn in the Family... The front runner... the first and most important stone in the house.

Peter later wrote about the Stone, “Come to Jesus, the Living Stone—thrown away by people, but chosen and oh, so precious and special in God’s eyes. As you come to Him, as little living stones, you will be built up into His spiritual House.” And “whoever believes in Him will never be put to shame.”

“You already see how precious He is. But for those who don’t believe: The stone those builders rejected has become the most important stone of all. He’s a rock that causes people to trip and be offended... because they disobey God’s word.

“Ah, but to you who believe, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of God’s very own. Because of that, you can shout out the Good News about the One who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous, beautiful light.”

So children, don’t let anyone ever tell you that people don’t have a choice to BELIEVE God and bow their knee to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That is a lazy lie drummed up by people trying to avoid taking responsibility for their life, or for someone else’s life. “It’s not my fault. God made me this way.” Or “There’s no reason for me to try to help this person Know God because God has already pre-decided all that. I’m not my brother’s keeper.” (That is garbage!)

What I want you to remember is this: God WANTS you! He Loves you! You can come to Him and snuggle up close, because He wants you to Know Him.

But it’s not “easy peasy” for anyone to give up their self life. Do you know what it means to be offended? Yeah, that’s what happens when you don’t like how something’s going, and you feel like you have a right for things to be a different way. Well, Jesus Himself is called a Rock of Offense. Because the Good News always includes something that offends our little ole self. If it doesn’t, it isn’t the Good News. And just like the rich man who loved his stuff, everyone has something (or somethingS) that we think we shouldn’t have to let go of.

So if at some point in life you find yourself struggling, and struggling, and struggling with sin... that doesn’t mean He isn’t still there pulling for you. So don’t you ever give up.

No matter what bad stuff you’ve done, you can turn and love the Truth by calling that junk what God calls it—sin, darkness. Side with Jesus against your sinful self. And, never ever, ever give up. He will be found by those who seek Him with all their heart. And it starts with Faith—which is BELIEVING HIM about what HE can do IN YOU. And then, surrendering everything to Him because you TRUST who He is and believe He will get you where He wants you to go.