Gratefully Chosen?

Having finished reading "Chosen for Life" by Sam Storms I have come to realize that I'm truly blessed. No matter how contentious or challenging my life may or may not be I must remember that my first & most urgent need has already been met; & that need would be my need for a saviour.

Now I can face death without fear; pain with long suffering; & persecution & ridicule with almost supernatural tolerance. For now I know without a doubt my salvation is assured, because the One who assures it says I cannot be seized from His hand. For the first time in years I am beginning to again believe that I am loved & accepted by the only One who matters.

As I read "Chosen for Life" my heart was moved. I cannot describe the emotions I experienced as I was reading except to say I was profoundly humbled. Humbled by the fact that God for no other reason other than expressing His mercy & for His glory alone seemingly arbitrarily chose me before the dawn of time to be His.

This fact by itself reinforces in me the need to know Him more, not out of arrogance but as a form of humble worship. Although there is no way I can re-pay the debt I owe Him I am still inspired as I have never been before; hence, I will no longer worship Him out of a spirit of obligation alone but also out of a spirit of intense gratitude. I will pour out my heart to Him both privately & publicly, & glean every bit of knowledge I can from the Scriptures concerning His character. I will put to death what sin in my life He brings to my knowledge, not by my power but by His grace. Lord, may You sanctify me to become more like You!

Not only sanctify me but also let others see the changes You make in me not for my credit but for Your glory so that they, too, may desire to come to know You as I do; may they come to repent & know saving grace because of what they see You do in the heart of a frail sinner such as I.

Lord Jesus, I also repent & beg Your forgiveness for not believing in You & doubting You. If I truly believed & had no doubts I would not sin. My sin is doubt & unbelief even as I looked upon Your face! Forgive me, Lord, & strengthen me....

As I read "Chosen for Life" it became clearer to me why we worship God: We worship Him because of who He is. We worship Him because of what He has done & continues to do in our lives. But more & more, for me, it is because of gratitude for choosing me when He was under no obligation whatsoever to do so.

Before I believed as I do now I worshiped more out of obligation not to God but to those around me. I had reason to doubt my salvation. Even if I had no doubts, why would I lift my voice to worship? Who was I worshiping? God?

Now that I look back through re-newed lenses I can see that I was indeed grateful; but I wasn't grateful so much for what God had done, rather I was grateful for the opportunity He freely offered & for the potential it posed therein. If I truly worshipped at all it wasn't out of gratefulness to Him alone but also out of gratefulness to myself! Could it be that I was actually worshipping both myself & God? Lord, let it not be so!

Nonetheless I should be cautious for I could easily fall into the sins of arrogance & pride even now. For although others may not share the same beliefs that we do it still doesn't make us any less brothers & sisters in Christ. Because I am not of Calvin & they of Arminius but we are all of Christ.