Nothing about you surprises God. He knew what He was getting when He chose you. He ‘actually picked us out for Himself as His own’. You didn’t just randomly show up one day. And God hasn’t decided to merely tolerate you. He is not rolling His eyes when you have a problem. Instead, He will always remind you how far you have come, how well you are doing, how precious you are in His sight, and how much He loves you. God already knew your weaknesses, every flaw you would have, and every time you would fail, yet He still said, ‘I want you.’ Ephesians 1:5 says that God ‘adopted’ you as His own. He is your father, and you are His family. Yes, He will discipline you when you need it, but He will never discard you. And with Him on your side, things are bound to work out all right in the end. ‘All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son’ (vv. 3-6 NLT). © 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.