Sunday, December 06, 2009

218. Accepted in the Beloved

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God has made us accepted in the Beloved. God Himself has done this! It's not through anything we've done. It's not through our striving to reach out to God, but it's about recognizing that in Christ He has reached out to all of mankind and pursued us with great passion!

3 comments:

  1. Hey this was only the second podcast I ever listened to and I really enjoyed it!

    I was wondering if you could help with something - you talked about us all being chosen by God..I know someone who struggles with this, feeling that maybe she's not chosen by God, and no matter what she does here on earth one day she will find out she just wasn't one of the chosen ones and she'll be out. This person is obviously a strong Christian and loves God, yet has this doubt crop up. Grace teaching has dismissed this fear in many ways, but I was wondering if you could address it. How can you help a person to see that they are chosen, in, and safe with God when they are fearing that God chooses some and not others, and maybe they are one of the "not others" and there's nothing they can do about it?

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  2. Hi Sparrow Girl,

    I think that kind of doubtful thinking is unfortunately more predominant than we know. People struggle with the idea of whether or not God has chosen them.

    I think this is because the actual good news is not understood. According to 2 Corinthians 5, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting men's sins against them." And according to other scriptures, God so loved the world that He sent Jesus. Hebrews says that Christ's sacrifice... which was done out of God's great love... was for ALL, not just for some.

    The only thing left for a person to do is to receive the free gift, simply by believing in that one perfect sacrifice. And so the scriptures don't tell us to doubt about whether or not God has accepted us, or about whether or not Christ's sacrifice was sufficient for everybody. Instead, the scriptures point to the blessed hope that anyone can be saved, simply through faith, by God's grace.

    I'm just trying to think of things that may help your friend in her doubt. God has made the way for all. He's not holding back. The only thing that is needed is for us to believe, and your friend can be assured that she has been chosen and has eternal life, simply through faith.

    Hope that helps, and if you have any more comments or questions, feel free to let us know!

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  3. Thanks Joel, that really does help a lot. God is so gracious with us all to counteract our doubts and reassure us. What you said made sense.

    I listened to a few other podcasts and enjoyed them! Thanks for this ministry!

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