The Doctrine of Election

This is part of the class that I'm taking right now. There are so many different thoughts about the doctrine of election. But let me try to summarize as best I can. 

Unconditional election - God chooses who will be saved based on His sovereign choice.

Conditional election - God chooses who will be saved based on His foreknowledge of our choice.

Unconditional double election - Not only does God choose who will be saved, but He also chooses who will not be saved.

However, the best reasons I can think of to believe in the doctrine of election as a whole is found in this quote from our text. It is a quote from C.H. Spurgeon, who I don't usually agree with. But this is pretty good.

"I believe the doctrine of election, because I am quite certain that if God had not chosen me I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love. So I am forced to accept that doctrine."

No matter what version of election you believe in, Spurgeon has it down. If God hadn't chosen me, and given me the grace to believe in Him, I am positive that I wouldn't be where I am today. Thank you, Lord, for the grace You have given us to believe.

Who is Messiah?

That is the subject of the second class. Who is Messiah? Christology seeks to answer that question. Not just who He is, but what is His nature? Divine? Deity? And how can we know? Class starts tomorrow, and in preparation I just finished 100 pages in the first text, "The Person of Christ." But that isn't really what I am focused on right this minute.

The focus of my thoughts right now are on a passage from the Bible, specifically, Philippians 2:5-11.

     5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

It is part of our weekly meditation requirements, to read and ponder over this passage, and let the Holy Spirit speak to us through it. I have read it several times already. What really stands out to me right now is the nature of Yeshua. He had a right to call Himself equal with God. But He didn't.
     How many times in the course of our lives do we have the right to bring attention to a status or a position? I'm the boss. I have such-and-such a degree. I'm whatever. I'm Batman. And whether it is true or not, deserved or not, there was someone who truly had the right to say, "Yeah? Well, I'm God. Top that." And He didn't say a thing.
     We are called in Philippians 2 to "have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Messiah Yeshua." It wasn't even that He didn't claim what was rightfully His. It had never even occurred to Him that it was His right. He "did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped." I know that I don't have that attitude yet, because I constantly have to tell myself that I am called to give up my rights. I won't be there until I stop thinking it's my right to begin with.