Ephesians 1:5-6

In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

The seemingly conflicting ideas of predestination vs. free will can set off fiery debate in many sections of the Christian world. There are those who cite verses such as this to maintain that in His sovereignty God chooses those whom He will choose, and nothing can be done about it. There are those who quote verses such as 2 Pet. 3:9 (the Lord desires that none should perish, but that all should come to repentance) and argue that man has free will to choose whether or not to be a part of the family of God. Numerous verses exist to back up both arguments, and the New Testament seems to support both ideas without reservation.

This is one of many times of tension in Scripture when two ideas opposite from the human perspective are presented as truth. How should believers deal with such situations? God spoke in the book of Isaiah that His ways are greater than our ways, and His thoughts higher than our thoughts. Therefore we should not expect to be able to understand all the mysteries of the divine. If we could I would strongly suspect that Christianity was a manmade religion. So these two ideas presented in Scripture are true at the same time. God is absolutely sovereign. You were chosen by Him before the creation of the world as a part of His family. People have free will to make their own choices. Any man who desires to come to God will be saved. Let the paradox blow your mind, but never sacrifice one idea presented in Scripture in an attempt to preserve another.

How wonderful that before the world was even created and through no merit of our own God chose to adopt us into his family as his spiritual children – brothers and sisters of Christ who will one day stand before him as holy and blameless members of his family in eternity! Praise Him for allowing you to be a part of His eternal purpose!