In every day life, we don’t choose what to believe, we simply believe it. For example, you can’t make yourself believe you are not sitting on a chair. You can deny that you are, you can lie about it, but deep down inside you know that you are. Choice people claim the ability to pick and choose what to believe, but in reality, one can’t really do that. If you don’t like peas, you can’t wake up one day and choose to like them. In the same way, if you don’t like the Lord, it’s not because you chose to dislike him, you just don’t like him.
Believing in election will bring accusations against God that says that he is “not fair” but fair does not mean equal, like the world sees the word fair. There are many things we have no say about in this life. We don’t choose whether we are male or female, what country we are born in, what financial status we are born into, we don’t choose our parents and family. There are many more things that we have no say about in this life. Is it “fair” to have disabilities from birth?
It is not consistent to say that God puts people in terrible situations on earth, but he can’t do it in eternity. The only difference is degree. The greatest commandment is not a suggestion in Deut 6.4 where the Lord says we are to love him, but it says “you shall.” Here are some questions for choice people.
If God doesn’t stop sin because of our free will, does that mean he wants it? In the Olam Haba, there is no sin. Does God take away our free will or did we never have it to begin with? If he doesn’t, then we will still be able to sin. If we can’t, we don’t have the ability to make a free choice. If he takes away free will then, why is it unreasonable to assume we might not have free will now? Why would the Lord take away the gift of free will when we get to heaven and eventually in the kingdom/Olam Haba on earth? Wouldn’t it be better to “freely choose, freely love” him, even in heaven or in the kingdom on earth?
The concept of free will also lead us to be “boastful and proud” in regards to salvation. Over emphasis on free will produces this. If the Lord gives all men “light” to choose him, then all men are on equal ground. So, why would some accept and some do not? What makes a person choose Yeshua and believe the Lord? Were we more “humble” than others? Were we wiser than others? Did we really “work” at seeing him? Again, hear the story of the ten criminals. A judge condemns them and then he offers them a pardon. Five accept and five reject the offer. Those who accept did not earn it, but certainly enjoy their new life because of the “grace” of the judge. If you looked at them, they were indistinguishable from those who rejected the offer except on the basis of their decision. The only thing that separates them from those “carted off” was the “wisdom” of their decision, and that becomes a legitimate boast.
However, in the concept of election, the only determining factor is God’s elective grace (1 Cor 1.27-29; Eph 2.8). Salvation does not depend on our choice or decision. It depends on God’s decision. You can plead with him to save, and know he can do it despite any obstacle, but the ultimate decision is his. It is clear from Scripture that we will have no reason to boast about our salvation. That means we did nothing to deserve it, we had no wisdom on our own to ascertain it, we had no works to earn it, we had no insight on our own to see it or a better mind and intellect to comprehend it. Our salvation is totally in the hands of the Lord who sovereignly chose those who would be saved according to his own purposes before the world was created (Eph 1.4). We will not be able to point to anything we did to obtain our salvation. It is totally in the hands of the Lord, from the beginning to the end, and he deserves all glory.
Hopefully, this subject, as we have presented it, has given you a better understanding of this concept, or at least something to think about. We have found that it made us more aware of the fact that we had absolutely nothing to do with our salvation. Our faith was a free gift from a sovereign God and what we thought was an honest search for the Lord in the past was attributable to the Lord alone, and his “drawing” stirred our hearts causing his truths to be revealed. We will not fully appreciate what he saved us from in this life, but we will. No wonder we see believers in heaven casting their crowns before the Lord, they realize their salvation and everything they are experiencing had nothing to do with what they did.
This realization caused us to be more thankful and love him more for giving us this undeserved gift, causing us to be more giving to others who may not deserve it. We have no idea why he chose us, but we do thank him for it. We are also reassured in understanding this concept that for the Lord to do all he has done to save us, he will not let us go either. If he can save us when we were his enemy, he can keep us when we are his friend.
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