God Chooses Who He Saves
I must admit it can be difficult accepting the truth that God can save whomever He wishes. He created us and He can save us if He desires. So long as that includes you and me, we are happy. When it includes ‘that guy over there’ we are not so understanding. Doesn’t God know how they live?
If you have ever shared these feelings, you are not alone. You are also not looking at life through the lens of Christ. That’s what makes being a Christian so difficult. Some people think it is the prayers, the fasting, and the moral standards. Those are easy when compared to how we are expected to look at the salvation of others.
Brethren, God has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens the heart of whomever he wills. You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, a man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me thus?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for beauty and another for menial use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘my beloved.'” “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.'” And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved; for the Lord will execute his sentence upon the earth with rigor and dispatch.” And as Isaiah predicted, “if the Lord of hosts had not left us children, we would have fared like Sodom and been made like Gomorrah.” What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith; but that Israel who pursued the righteousness which is based on law did not succeed in fulfilling that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it through faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make men stumble, a rock that will make them fall; and he who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Romans 9.18-33
This reading is appointed by the Church for the commemoration of Hosea the Prophet whose memory the Church celebrates today. The message, offered through the Prophet thousands of years ago, long before Saint Paul was alive, reminds us that God chooses who will be saved, not us.
It is a very simple message. Stop challenging God’s choices and agenda. He is God. We are His creation. Sure, we are the pinnacle of His creation, but we are still not God. It isn’t our choice who ‘gets in’ and who does not.
All the prayers and fasting and prostrations are meant to tune our hearts to understand God’s choices. The Church shapes our minds not only to understand, but to love God’s choices. Just think about it for a minute.
According to today’s lesson from Saint Paul, God could choose to save everyone in the world. Whether He will or won’t isn’t our concern, or at least it shouldn’t be. Our concern should be about our place in that salvation. Will we be ‘in or out’ when all is said and done?
As Saint Paul reminds us, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5.8) He didn’t’ wait for us to be perfect. He didn’t wait for us to do a thousand prostrations. He loved us first, and if He chooses to save us, we should be thankful instead of prideful.
If God chooses to allow everyone else ‘in’ too, that is His prerogative. Here’s where our place is determined. IF we are angry or jealous or indignant that God allows others ‘in’ then it will be us who are ‘out’ looking in.
IF God chooses to allow everyone else ‘in’ and our hearts are filled with joy and thanksgiving, then we will find ourselves also on the inside. Let’s face it, we don’t deserve to be saved, but God still loved us before we were born. If He chooses to save us, why wouldn’t He choose to save others also?
This doesn’t mean we should just sit back and enjoy life. It doesn’t mean that we should ignore the life of the Church. We just have to remember what the life of the Church is all about. Every prostration, every service we attend, every confession we offer, are all meant to shape our hearts toward God. It is the way God has given to us to prepare for heaven, not just ‘get in’ to heaven.
