We were chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that we may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood. And according to His great mercy God has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 1 Peter 1:1-3. Or, as Paul put it, “By His doing you are in Christ Jesus,” 1 Corinthians 1:30a. And we are now protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation to be revealed in the last time, 1 Peter 1:5.
God foreknew us, caused us to be born again, and now protects us through faith. If God be for us, who can be against us? It depends not on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. And those of us whom He has chosen to offer mercy, in turn, offer ourselves daily to Him as a living sacrifice, and He works in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
We, of all people, are the most fortunate; for we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light; for once we were not a people, but now we are the people of God; we had not received mercy, but now we have received mercy.
Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant
jondavidbanks.com 