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Before,
now and after
Surely, there
may have been times that we all have wondered about our destiny and the
reason of our presence in this world. Why are we on this earth? What is
the purpose of our presence in this world? What are the thoughts of God
about us? Today, I would like to see with you what the Word of God says
about questions as the above, so that we may appreciate better the true
answers that it gives.
1. Chosen
before the foundation of the world
To start we will go to Ephesians
1:3-6. There we read:
Ephesians 1:3-6
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly
places in Christ, just as HE CHOSE US IN HIM BEFORE THE
FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ
to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of
the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the
beloved"
God chose us in
Christ BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, that we should be holy and
without blame before Him in love. The fact that we are here and we know
God is therefore not "accidental". God foreknew us (Romans
8:29), and before the foundation of the world He chose us in
Christ to be HIS CHILDREN, holy and without blame before Him.
2. Psalms
139:1-16
The Lordīs involvement concerning
our presence in this world, is also evident from Psalm 139. There,
starting from verse 13, we read:
Psalms 139:13-16
"YOU made my whole being; YOU formed me in my motherīs
body. I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful
way. Your works are wonderful. I know this very well. My frame was not
hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven
together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days planned for me were written in your book before one of them
came to be."
[NIV-New Century Version]
God had seen
us, before we were born. All the days planned for us were written in His
book while still nothing of them had happened. His eyes saw our unformed
body and HE gave us the shape and the form we have. He made us in an
amazing and wonderful way. His works are all wonderful and we are one of
them.
But Psalm 139
does not stop there. Taking it from the beginning we read:
Psalms 139:1-3
"O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You
know my sitting down and my rising up; you perceive my thoughts from
afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with
all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O
Lord."
The Lord knows
everything about us. He understands our thoughts from afar and there is
nothing hidden from Him. All that we do, and all that we think are fully
known to Him. And the same Psalm continues:
Psalm 139:5-12
"You have hedged me behind, and before; you have laid
your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I
flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are
there; If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the
wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there
your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say,
"Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around
me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will
shine like the day for darkness is as light to You."
God has hedged
us behind and before and His hand is laid upon us. Each one of us is a
man that GOD chose, GOD formed, and for whom GOD cares and knows
everything, even our sitting down and rising up. He is with us always
and there is no place where He is not. As Paul says in Romans 8:38-39
Romans 8:38-39
"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor
angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to
come, nor height, nor depth, not any other created thing, shall be able
to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord."
There is
absolutely nothing that is able to separate us from Godīs love. He
loved us so much that He gave His own Son, Jesus Christ. No wonder
therefore that Romans 8:32 says:
Romans 8:32
"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up
for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all
things?"
Really, would
it ever be possible that God would spare anything good for us when He
didnīt spare His own Son? Would it ever be possible to leave us for
example? Who of us would leave something that he loves so much and for
which he paid such a high price? And if we would, He will never. As He
says in Hebrews 13:5:
Hebrews 13:5
"I will never leave you nor forsake you"
and also Isaiah 49:15
"I WILL NOT FORGET YOU."
God will never
leave us nor forsake us. He will never forget us, and there is nothing
that can separate us from His love. He cares for each one of us
PERSONALLY. For us He went so far as to give even His own Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ.
3. Psalm
139:17-18
But Psalm 139 does not stop here.
Continuing from verse 17 we read:
Psalms 139:17-18
"How precious are your thoughts to me, O God! How vast
is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the
grains of the sand;"
And Psalms 40:5
"Many, O Lord my God, are your wonderful works which
you have done; and your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to you
in order; if I would declare and speak of
them they are more than can be numbered"
Godīs thoughts
for us are precious and their number is countless: THEY OUTNUMBER THE
GRAINS OF THE SAND! And as He says for them in Jeremiah 29:11
Jeremiah 29:11
"I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the
Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil"
The thoughts of
the Lord for us are thoughts of good and peace. We are not in His mind
just for a few minutes in which He makes some spontaneous thoughts
concerning us. We were in His mind before the foundation of the world.
His thoughts for us outnumber any number and nothing can separate us
from His love. Thus, as Hebrews 13:5-6 tells us:
Hebrews 13:5-6
"For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you
nor forsake you." So we may boldly say: "The Lord is my
helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?"
And as Proverbs counsels us:
Proverbs 3:5-6
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on
your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall
direct your paths."
Let us trust in
the Lord with all our heart and leave HIM to direct us. He has not
promised that storms will never come. However, He knows how to calm
them. In the great storm that hit the boat with the disciples in Mark
4:37, it was enough a "Be still" of the Lord to the sea and
"there was a great calm". When a storm comes, when tribulation
arrives, He knows not only to bring calmness but also to use the
tribulation for our benefit, "knowing that tribulation produces
patience; and patience, experience; and experience hope. Now hope does
not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our
hearts by the holy spirit which is given to us" (Romans 5:3-5)
4. Sited in
the heavenlies
But the Lordīs vision concerning us
is not only about this small life. In fact, as I Peter 2:11 tells us, we
are but strangers and foreigners here. And as Philippians 3:20-21 says:
Philippians 3:20-21
"For our citizenship IS IN HEAVEN, from which we also
eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform
our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according
to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to
Himself"
Our real home
is in heavens. There we belong, and there is our true citizenship. It is
there that God sees already, sited together with the Lord Jesus Christ:
Ephesians 2:4-7
"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great
love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made
us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), AND RAISED
US UP TOGETHER, AND MADE US SIT TOGETHER IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES
IN CHRIST JESUS"
From Godīs
point of view, we are already sited in the heavenlies, together with
Christ. HE is our vision and the one to whom we should look at. As it
says in Hebrews 12:1-2:
Hebrews 12:1-2
"let us run with patience the race that is set before
us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our
faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross
despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God."
To run a race
consistently we need to have a clear vision of what we want to attain
and the purpose we run. Otherwise, we will be running "with
uncertainty", "as one who beats the air" (I Corinthians
9:26). We can run our race consistently only by looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our salvation. We are here TO DO THE WILL OF GOD.
WHAT HE SAYS IN HIS WORD AND WHAT HE HAS CALLED EACH ONE OF US TO DO.
THIS IS THE REASON THAT WE LIVE AND THE PURPOSE OF OUR LIFE. We are
followers of Jesus Christ and as He confirms us: "He who follows me
shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life" (John 8:12)
5. Conclusion
As it may be clear from the above, we
are not people that just happened to be here, without a purpose to live.
God foreknew us and He chose us in Christ BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE
WORLD. He has chosen YOU and it was HE that formed you and gave you the
shape that you have. As with all His works, you are WONDERFUL too. He
was personally engaged in your formation and He saw your body before it
was formed. All the days planned for you were written in His book while
nothing of them had still happened. You are not accidental in this
world. You are not part of a crowd but a wonderful creation of God. You
are a child of God chosen from Him before the world began. God is with
you, hedging you behind and before and there is no place that you are
and He is not. God loves YOU, PERSONALLY, my friend, and He loves you so
much that nothing can separate you from His love. His thoughts for you
are countless. They outnumber any number. His presence is not a matter
of feelings but an unchanged reality. God is not with you when you feel
it and He disappears when you do not feel it. He is with you either you
feel it or not. He loves you either you feel worthy of His love or not.
You are His child regardless of how much you feel it. This is what Godīs
Word, the TRUTH, says and truth is independent of feelings. He has given
you eternal life and you are going to be with Him forever! Though others
may just flow in the stream of life, aimlessly and without purpose, you
have a purpose: TO DO THE WILL OF YOUR FATHER. TO DO WHAT IT PLEASES
HIM. To run the race consistently concentrating not on the things of
this earth, but on the things of above from where your savior, THE LORD
JESUS CHRIST, is coming. There you belong, and there you will be
forever.
Tassos Kioulachoglou
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