Chosen.

         Before the foundations of the earth,
                                       before God separated the light from the darkness,
                                                                                                                        before time began,

God chose those whom he had predestined for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ. 

Sons of God. Inheritors of the promise. Co-heirs with Christ. 

Chosen.

When viewed from this perspective, 

                 
                               beyond the stars and the planets and galaxies,
                                                before my first cry, my first failure, my first stirrings of belief,

it becomes starkly, strikingly clear that he chose me 

because of his great grace, for the praise of his glory. 

It's not about me.

         

                He reached down,  

                                   through the tangle of history,  

                                                            into the turbid ebb and flow of human misery,

and grasped my hand,  and drew me to himself. 

Chosen.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, 

that we should be holy and blameless before him. 

In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, 

according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, 

with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.  

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, 

according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, 

in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, 

according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, 

to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Ephesians 1:3~10