We ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ~ 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14
Photos often capture that special moment in the hospital when parents are able to hold their newborn child for the first time. Embodied in that first embrace is the selfless love that parents strive to give to their tiny, helpless child in the months and years that follow.
Photos could not capture the moment God first embraced us with his love. Long before God gave birth to the earth and all living things, through Jesus he chose us to be his own. He knew us and loved us before time began.
God’s timeless love for us gives us tremendous comfort. For the Bible reminds us that we were conceived and born in sin. Like newborn babes who cannot help themselves, we were born spiritually helpless. As surely as we were unable to choose who our earthly parents would be, we also had no ability to choose God and his love. Yet he saw our helpless condition, and prepared to rescue us from sin.
In love that the human mind cannot fully embrace, God chose us to be saved. How can we be sure that he chose us? We turn to the good news of the Bible. The Word comforts us with the message of the perfect life of Christ and the cross he willingly bore for us. His death and resurrection assure us that our sins are paid in full and that God’s eternal love for us endures!
The Holy Spirit extends God’s timeless love to us through the gospel. Therefore, we can always rest assured that God chose us to be saved because he called us to faith in Jesus through the gospel.
God’s love is so great he even promises that we will share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. No photo can capture the splendor and joy that await us in our eternal home at our Savior’s side. Since God embraces us with endless love through Jesus, we are moved to give him endless thanks with our lips and our lives.
Prayer: Now thank we all our God with hearts and hands and voices, who wondrous things has done, in whom his world rejoices, who from our mother’s arms has blessed us on our way with countless gifts of love and still is ours today. ~ Martin Rinckart, 1636
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