Arbitrarily Chosen

"Now the Lord said to Abram, 'Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.'" Genesis 12:1

It is foolish for me to ever think that God chose me to be saved because of any quality that I possess, but I still do it. How many times have I allowed the wicked lie to creep into my mind that says, "Look at all I have to offer God, no wonder He chose to save me?" When God chose Abram, there was no previous indication or reason given for God's choosing. Abram was a name in a long list of names, and God arbitrarily singled out his name to bless the whole world through. He chose Abram to be holy, to go from 'country', 'kindred', and his 'father's house', to some place separate. But God didn't do so because Abram asked him. The best explanation I can come up with after reading the text as to why God chooses Abram out of all the other names is that God is God, and He chooses whom He pleases. There is a problem in us talking of salvation so frequently as the choice we made to follow Him. Did I choose Him? Yes. But only because He first chose me, and He did so arbitrarily. I have nothing to give God that He doesn't already possess and there is no quality about me that could have swayed God in His choosing. It is by His grace and mysterious pleasure that He chose me, and by His grace that I was able to choose Him. Let us never forget that we live in Him by grace, and that we are His by His choosing.

Lord Jesus, You and You alone are the Author of our salvation. Give us the humility to live constantly at Your divine mercy!