Special for Special Sake

The word "election" carries with it a lot of theological baggage. God has "elected" some to experience God's blessings. God has chosen. For Calvinists this means that God has chosen before the foundations of the earth-some for salvation and others for damnation. For other theological traditions, it simply means that God has looked down from Heaven and plucked those who He has determined to offer the gift of salvation. And still for others, election means that God has chosen all of humanity and it becomes our responsibility to choose if we will accept God's offer. So which one is right? Well...that's not the point of this devotional.

The point is that no theological tradition can escape the word "election." It is deeply rooted in the Scriptures and goes all the way back to Noah, the one God elected to save humanity. Then God "elects" Abraham, through whom all nations on earth shall be blessed. After that...God chooses Israel to be a chosen nation, a peculiar possession, a royal priesthood. God's election of Israel had with it the inherent mission of serving the rest of the world by being faithful to God. They were elected to be special...but their special calling was to serve as a blessing to the rest of the world.

The problem...the human tendency is to forget why we are special. Israel forgot that they had been chosen, elected, made special to serve others. Instead, they had often determined that they were special for special sake. They flaunted their election as though it was only for them and that it made them better than all other nations. They had forgotten the deep responsibility to steward their calling, their election to the glory of God.

This is not an uncommon reality. Too often the Christian church does this very same thing. We get saved, realize God has chosen us, spend a little time in awe...and then we allow our new special status to set us apart, to make us better than others. We flaunt our salvation. We are the saints...they are the sinners. We are the "us" and they are the "them." We are condescending in our conversations with non-believers and arrogant about our faith. We have forgotten that central to our choosing is the responsibility to go out and be a blessing to others. We have forgotten that our election is part of God's bigger plan for all the earth. God has elected us and given us a voice before the throne that we might speak up (intercede)on behalf of the voiceless. We have been chosen to experience abundance that we might pour out that gift in the lives of those with nothing. We are not special for special sake. We have been made special for Christ's sake. We have been elected for the sake of others.

Let us not handle our election as if God had placed it "Into the Wrong Hands."