He chose us

“For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.” Ephesians 1:4
Verses like this one always leave me amazed at God. You’d think He would have been too busy thinking about how to create the world – all the intricacies of life, climate, motion of the planets – yet even before all that, He knew us and chose us. He saw us in our fallen, sinful state, yet He chose us. He saw us after He chose us, glorified with Him, and He was pleased. That just blows my mind.
Paul gives two reasons here why we are chosen. The first is to be holy, which means to be set apart. Just as we have a set of ‘good china’ and ‘good silverware’ that we only bring out for special occasions, likewise we are set apart for God’s special purposes. The second is to be blameless. Now that we are in Christ, God does not hold our sin against us. Our sin – past, present, and future – was all paid for at the cross. We stand before Him, forgiven. In fact this is the only means by which we are able to stand before Him.
We might find this choosing hard to swallow. But one thing is for sure: God knew what He was doing when He chose us. He doesn’t make mistakes.