"...he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved." -Ephesians 1:4-6
I often ponder over the grace of God that He reveals to us through His work of salvation, and it never ceases to amaze me. I continually come back to the fact that, were salvation in my own hands, it would be impossible for me to see Heaven. As a child, I grew up with the commonly taught idea that salvation can be lost, and it scared me to think that at any point I might cease being saved and wind up in Hell. Upon consideration, I realize that I was quite right to be afraid; if this were true, it is a certainty that salvation would be absolutely impossible, or at least, impossible to keep. The moment salvation depends upon the frailty of human decision, whether to obtain it or to maintain it, it is altogether doomed. We disappoint God so many ways every single day, and just where is that line drawn that says "this far, and no farther?" Here's what I've learned: there is no line. It is not possible for a believer, one who has been saved by the grace of God, one who has been made a "new creation", to revert back to an "old creation".
I've heard a lot of people comment on passages from the book of Ephesians, arguing that the predestination of God described in the first chapter is actually dependent upon the also-mentioned foreknowledge of God. I.e., that because God foreknew that we would willingly come to Him, He therefore predestined our salvation. It cannot be. God knew you before you were created because from the very beginning you were in His mind, as was His plan of salvation for you. He both foreknew AND predestined you because that was the intended roll you were to play within the story He is telling through creation. If God predestined you to salvation, is that plan that obtained salvation for you thwarted by your disobedience at any point in time? Does God set the stage but then give us the chance to veto His will?
Consider it this way: how many parents cease to love their children? A parent's heart may be broken, shattered even, by the choices a child makes, but only the worst of parents ever cease to love their child. God is our parent, and He is certainly not the worst of parents. Indeed, His love is greater than that any human parent bears for a child, so certainly if human parents maintain their love, God will do no less. No, He will do far more, and love more greatly than humanity is capable of. Will He discipline His children? Certainly. He will do so for their correction and to force hard-headed and stubborn children to learn to do good, and not evil. But no child of God will ever see Hell, nor will any child of God be given up to his or her own selfish will. Once saved, once truly redeemed by God, God will never allow that to happen.
When we realize this...when it truly begins to dawn on us how incredible the love and grace of God is, to have set in motion our salvation before we ever had the chance to earn it (and certainly we never could), and when we realize that His love extends beyond all of our faults, failures, and every petty, childish desire or action we could ever take, the effect is certain: it is one of awe, of thankfulness, of humility, gratitude and love. I am altogether convinced that the opposing view, that our salvation is initiated by ourselves, maintained by our own will and may, should that will change, cease to be, is altogether one of the greatest evils present within the church today, for by it, the confidence, faith and gratitude of Christians is lessened or shattered altogether, as now they must base their hope upon the frailest of creatures: themselves. What can we say to that? God save us!
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