Chosen

What does it mean to be chosen by God? From my reading today in Ezekiel 20, being chosen by God is an awesome thing, but it comes with a price. Throughout this chapter, I get a sense that God is very sad because despite all of the things He did for His chosen people, they still abandoned Him to their idols. Here are some quick thoughts:

Being "chosen" means:
1) Being loved by a jealous but loving God who is deeply saddened when His chosen ones don't do what He asks of them.

2) Being blessed beyond what we deserve, just because God loves us.

3) Being obligated to follow God because He chose us for His glory - that others may know that He is God. (1 Cor 6:19-20)

We are all chosen by God to take part in His kingdom because God is not willing that any should perish. However, if we do not accept what He has done for us in the gift of His son, then we will reap the consequences - forever. In Ezekiel, God must pour out His fury upon Israel for His name's sake (Ez 20:8-9) because if He doesn't He will look bad to the other nations because of Israel's behavior. In our lives, not obeying God can mean a couple of things:

1) We never accepted the gift of salvation in the first place and thus we are condemned.
2) We accepted the gift of salvation and spend our lives either serving God or not serving God, each of which have consequences, good and bad.


Jesus says to each of us in John 15:16 that:

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm choosing to obey God and live a life of service to Him so He will answer my prayers.