Tuesday is for Discipleship
I love kids. All kids. Walking down a grocery store aisle, any child can make be smile and brighten my day.
But when we move to a discussion of my own children, we move into a whole new level of love. My children have little clue about how much they mean to me. They can’t because they aren’t, except for Meredith, parents themselves—and maybe especially because when I was raising them, I irritated them so much. I had to discipline them and correct their thinking and remind them when they were being selfish. I had to prod them to clean their rooms and go play outside instead of stare at a TV or computer screen.
And of course I did all of those things imperfectly. My discipline at times was ill timed. My thinking wasn’t always on target and sometimes I could and can be just as selfish as them and my selfishness is worse maybe, because as an adult, I had the ability to articulate a rationality to my thinking that they had not learned yet and I had a position of authority in their lives that could be misused toward selfish ends.
All of that means that my children, have no idea how irresistibly drawn I am to them. I love my kids with a passion that is impossible, literally impossible, to put into words.
I would die for any one of them without a milliseconds hesitation. Just hearing their name, seeing them in the house, hearing their voice over the phone—brightens my day. To hear them greet me at the door or tell me that they love me, or that they missed me, or that they think I’m a good dad, (that’s a rare one), is like a bar of beautiful music that only they can play.
My children are beloved by me.
You see, my children are special objects of love in my life. My children are beloved by me. Do you understand that the Scripture says that you are beloved by God? You are the special object of the furious and passionate love of God.
This is part of what he apostle Paul is seeking to convey in 1 Thessalonians 1:4 “For we know, brothers beloved of God, that he has chosen you.” We are the special objects of the affection of God. He has chosen us. Here’s how one theologian puts it:
“Election is not a cold, fatalistic doctrine. On the contrary, its is based on God’s incomprehensible love for His elect. ‘In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will. [Eph. 1:4-5]”
(John MacArthur, Colossians, commenting on Col. 3:12).
Two applications:
- Cherish being chosen by God. Celebrate it. Wake up in the morning and tell yourself, “God chose me as his child.” Be stunned and amazed at the thought. Fix your eyes on it like a dog waiting for a bone. Roll the truth around in your spirit and let its power envelope your thoughts.
- Never become arrogant about being chosen. You didn’t deserve it. And that is what makes being chosen so stunning.
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