Chosen To Be Family

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he[a] predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. - Ephesians 1:4-6

Over and over the scripture makes the wild claim that God loved us before we were even born. In this letter to the early church in what is modern day Turkey, the church leader Paul claims that God picked us out to be part of God’s family before the creation of the world ! And then God intentionally invited us into the family by adopting us. This was always God’s plan, from the beginning of time.

The pictures that Paul is using here are meant to convey God’s interest in us, God’s provision for us, and God’s grace towards us before we were even born. In other words, this was all up to God and not to us - so that means we can’t mess it up! We’re part of God’s family whether we want it or not.

And the word for ‘adoption’ that Paul uses was not a warm and fuzzy term but rather a legal term to convey that a child had full rights of inheritance even though the child was not a blood relative.

Take a few moments to ponder what it means to be chosen and to have full standing in God’s family.

It it is helpful to have some accompaniment as you rest in your identity as a child of God, you might want to listen to the song from communion last Sunday, “No Longer A Slave. Click” HERE.