Do you ever wonder how you were so lucky that you discovered Jesus and chose to follow Him? I used to think that it was by good fortune. After all, I wasn't seeking God and yet I was suddenly compelled to love and serve Him. I had met some people in college who shared the gospel and then I chose to become a Christian. Today’s passage, taken from the apostle Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus can help us to have a better understanding of what really happened to me, so let's listen to it:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved…In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will… (Eph. 1:3-6,11)

Paul’s first sentence got my attention! He declares that our Heavenly Father chose us before the foundation of the world. In other words, God chose you and me even before He created the world—before He created the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve. In the second sentence, Paul says that God "predestined us for adoption as sons" and that it was “according to the purpose of His will.” Wow! Your will and my will didn’t have anything to do with it, and it wasn't luck or good fortune or the compelling conversation of a friend. It was God’s choice! From everlasting to everlasting, God has always had you and me on His mind—and He's never going to let us go, not ever...and that is very Good News!