Did God choose us first or we choose to follow God?

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thnguyen24

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Ephesians 1:4:
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
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I believe God chose me all the way back before the creation of the world to be in his kingdom. How about you?
 
As an old hymn that speaks of God’s choice goes, “It is not so much that you choose me, but very much that I choose you. Put on the faith I gave you and come walk with me…”

Yes, it is mind stretching that God should have chosen me out of all the other possibilities. 🙂
 
I believe that God chose all of us - as he desires that all of us be saved. However, God has known from the foundation of the world who would answer the call (because He stands outside of time).

God has chosen individuals throughout history to serve certain roles in his salvation plan - but never out of merit, but out of grace. He chose Jacob rather than Esau. He chose Abraham to be the father of descendants who would be blessed. He chose Mary to be the mother of God - all from the foundation of the world. But each of us, with our own free will, either choose to respond to God’s call or not. Abraham is praised for his faith (a choice) which made him righteous - if God made him believe, that would not be faith.

I’m thankful for life (which God gave me as an act of grace) and for the opportunity of salvation (which is not merited, but an act of grace). I’m thankful that God chose to give His son for us, that through His sacrifice, we might be made righteous through acceptance of that sacrifice, and confession of, and repentance for, our sins and embrace faith in the God, in the form of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Blessings,

Brian
 
After an excellent homily this Sunday, I believe both.

The reading was Mt 22:1-14, the Parable of the Marriage Feast.

The King invited the chosen guests to His feast. They did not come, giving excuses; some of them even murdered the King’s servants. The guests would be His chosen people, the Jews.

Then the King sends His servants to gather people from the streets, good and bad, to the feast. That would be the Gentiles. One man chooses to come in without the wedding garment. (Good kings sometimes kept a stock of garments so that nobody would be obliged by poverty to appear before them improperly dressed.)

What Father said about the man without a wedding garment is that he represents one who refuses to reconcile with God; that the wedding garment is the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I like that, and I have extrapolated it a bit to mean the wedding garment is obedience to God.

But the whole point is that Jesus prefaced the parable by saying "The kingdom of Heaven may be compared to…" (RSV) He obviously knew who was going to be included in the Kingdom, but we can still exclude ourselves by refusing the garment of obedience.

In other words, we have free will, and can make the choice freely. But He still knows who will make that choice.

God bless us all,

Ruthie
 
Human beings possess free will, but God calls to all of us. So we “choose him” but he calls us to him.
 
I would not have known about God and His great love and mercy if He did not Call Me. Unless He calls, how can I answer?
 
love4mary said:
I would not have known about God and His great love and mercy if He did not Call Me. Unless He calls, how can I answer?
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Yes - it is true that Jesus said that none come to Him but those who are drawn by the Father - but I believe that God draws all of us with the Holy Spirit - but sadly, only a few (relatively speaking) respond to the call. I believe the more we respond and yearn, the more grace is given until we finally come to faith and are flooded with the power of the Holy Spirit.

If we harden our hearts, it becomes progressively more difficult to be in a position to respond to God’s call.

Blessings,

Brian
 
Robbinson, you just summed up my story!
I believe the more we respond and yearn, the more grace is given until we finally come to faith and are flooded with the power of the Holy Spirit.
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Not that I feel powerful… but, yes, I’ve been flooded!

Amen to Love4Mary, too.

God bless us all,

Ruthie
 
I’d say God calls man, man chooses God, then God chooses worthy men for salvation.
 
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