Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure. - Ephesians 1:4-5

One of the key mountaintop blessings we read about in the book of Ephesians is election. The word means “selection,” “nomination,” or “appointing.” The loving God Almighty, who knows all things, chose us to be his children.

To those of us who struggle with a negative self-image, the doctrine of election gives a great sense of worth. Watch a shy teenage girl chosen by a handsome boy to attend the senior prom. She knows that he picked her out beforehand. See what that does for her confidence! See a “plain Jane” blossom into vibrant womanhood when she gets engaged. Her fiancé had all the world to choose from, and he chose her.

Growing up with a beautiful and popular sister led to a lot of disappointments for me. The boys would always look at her before they looked at me. In school she was a student leader as well as the captain of the tennis team. She was always getting chosen for something. Then Jesus chose me to be his disciple and friend. My whole world changed, and I was content.

When you experience and embrace the love of God in your own heart and mind, you will realize that he wanted you to be his very own— as if there were no one else but you in the whole wide world. You are a valuable, eternal person, chosen by God for a personal relationship. It just doesn’t get any better than that!

For Further Study: Ephesians 1:1-14

Excerpted from The One Year Devotions for Women, Copyright ©2000 by Jill Briscoe. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

For more from Jill Briscoe, please visit TellingtheTruth.org.

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