Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Colossians 3:12 (ESV)
Kids seem to be the worst at calling each other names. Okay, maybe politicians are worse or run a close second. Anyway, all of us at one time or another have been called a name we really hated and maybe some of us have called another person a name they really despised. In Colossians 3:12 the apostle Paul had some choice names for the Colossian believers. He called them God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved. I would suspect those are names that put delight into their souls not darts in their hearts. Believe it or not if we have received Christ those names apply to us as well.
God chose us to be his own special possession before the world was made (Ephesians 1:4). He did so because he purposed to do so from the council of his own will (Ephesians 1:5, 9, 11). No one talked God into it. We didn’t earn it, God just did it. We should never think that our choice to be God’s was the decisive factor in his choosing us. We were too dead in our sins to make that choice (Ephesians 2:1). We only chose God because he chose us and out of his great mercy caused our dead spirit to be born again (1 Peter 1:3). It is a humbling reality to know that had God not chosen us we would be bound for hell with no remedy. To be called God’s chosen ones is a name we should delight in.
It is also by God’s choosing that we are holy (Ephesians 1:4). When he gave us a new spirit it was his Spirit he sent to live in us; the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). It is the presence of the Holy Spirit within us that causes us to be holy. Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote. Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? . . . For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.(1 Corinthians 3:16-17 ESV)
The apostle Peter calls us a holy nation; a nation set apart to proclaim the excellencies of God (1 Peter 2:5, 9). It is hard to believe that God considers us holy, but we must remember; Jesus shed his blood and died in order to present us holy, blameless and above reproach before God (Colossians 1:22). Did he shed his blood in vain? May we never think so!
It was in love that God predestined us to adoption as sons (Ephesians 1:4-5). He chose to love us before he created us. We are God’s beloveds because Jesus Christ is God’s Beloved and we are in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:6). It is from the mouth of the prophet that God has told us we are his beloveds. Paul wrote, As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”(Romans 9:25 ESV)
The breadth, length, height and depth of God’s love for us are beyond our comprehension (Ephesians 3:18-19). Nothing will ever be able to separate those whom God has chosen from the love he has for them (Romans 8:38-39). He has an everlasting love for those who fear him (Psalms 103:17).
Is your walk with Christ worthy of the names God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved?
Scriptures for Meditation:
2 Corinthians 5:5
Ephesians 5:1, 27
2 Thessalonians 2:13
Revelation 17:14