Hi everybody, Pastor Vince here. Thanks for joining me in this Tuesday edition of Life Lifters. Our whole purpose is to give your life a lift through a five-minute blast of encouragement in Scripture. This week and next week, we're doing something unique. We're doing a two-week theme. We're talking about your identity in Jesus Christ. Once you become a Christian, you have a brand new identity, you're a brand new person, God has given you a number of brand new attributes, blessings, and favor. I get this from Ephesians 1, which is a chapter that gives us at least 10 new identities we have. Yesterday I talked about the first thing when you become a Christian and your new identity in Christ, which is you are blessed.

Today I want to talk about the second thing that happens to give you a new identity. Once you become a Christian, your new identity in Jesus Christ and it's this: you are chosen. I get that from Ephesians 1:4 where it says this: "for he that is God through Jesus Christ, he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love, he predestined us." We are chosen, and we are predestined. That means that Jesus Christ picked you for salvation.

Now, when I say that, if you're thinking thoroughly through this, you're going, "does God pick some people and not pick others?" The answer is going to start with you and the truth is, yes. It's a divine mystery because the Bible teaches this amazing tension. The Bible teaches that whoever wills and whoever desires Jesus Christ to come to him. The Bible teaches a certain limited human free will. On the other hand, the Bible teaches in this passage and others that we are chosen; predestined. The Greek word for "predestined" means to pre-arrange. So it's a mystery.

How does free will and God's choosing of us work together? I don't know. I'll never know and you'll never know. But I know both truths are taught. My goal is not to get you to figure out the truth. My goal is to get you to appreciate this: that God has chosen you. What an amazing thought that God has chosen you. Forget all the implications and complications and everything else of free will and election—God has chosen you. He chose us before the foundation of the world. Isn't that an amazing thought, that before we were ever born, he chose us. Jesus said you didn't choose me, but I chose you. It's an amazing thought!

You might say, "God chose us because He knew what was gonna happen." No, He didn't choose us because he knew what was going to happen. That's not choosing, that's acknowledging. He chose us. He preordained it and for that we should be humble. We can't go, "well, the reason why I'm a Christian is because I'm smart, I figured it out." No, you didn't. Flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you. Jesus told Peter, you're just chosen. Now what does that mean? When you're chosen? It means this, you should be humbled before the living God, because He chose you. Out of all the people in the world God chose me. He chose you if you're a Christian. You should appreciate that. Are you humbled by that? Are you floored by that? Here's the truth. You say, "how can God choose some and not others?" I don't know, but I want to throw out another answer to that, perhaps another question to that question, which is just how could God choose anybody at all? How could God choose those who have turned their back on Him, which is all of us? But, he chose us. He chooses wisely.

Thank God for that. Let's pray Father in heaven. It's a humble thought that if we're Christians were chosen by you. The text says it predestined by you. We are humbled by this. And all we can say is thank you. We didn't earn it didn't deserve it. We weren't good enough. We weren't smart enough and weren't at the right place at the right time. No, you chose us in your good pleasure. I certainly pray that you would choose everybody and our family and all of our friends to know you. But right now, we especially say thank you that you chose us and we praise you and we thank you for it. In Jesus' name, amen. Chosen And it's your second identity in Christ. We'll talk about another tomorrow. Thanks.