29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
When I think of predestination, I align with "corporate election" as described by the website "gotquestions" below
" Corporate election is the idea that, when God elected or predestined people to be saved, He did not pick out individual people; rather, God chose Christ. Since Christ is the chosen one, all who come to Christ in faith are part of the chosen group. This view is sometimes called 'class election' or expressed as God’s predestinating 'the way of salvation.' In other words, 'God chose the plan, not the man.' He chose the corporate entity in which salvation can take place (“in Christ”), but He did not choose the individuals who would be saved. A person only becomes part of the elect when he or she exercises faith in Christ. People are 'chosen' when they choose to join the group that God had chosen.
Corporate election is sometimes illustrated in this fashion: a university’s dean of students determines, prior to the start of the semester, that the Alpha Epsilon Mu sorority will be invited to a special dinner with the university president. All the co-eds in AEM can rightly say, 'We were chosen to attend the dinner'—even those who only joined the sorority a week previous to the event. The dean did not choose the co-eds individually, but corporately; however, each of them can claim to have been chosen, by virtue of her membership in the sorority."
However, even if it is individual election, which seems wrong to me, God can do whatever He wants to do because He is God and I trust Him. But when we speak of predestination, we always think in terms of God picking people to save or go to Heaven. Do we ever think of it as picking people to be conformed to the image of Jesus? God chose us so we can look like Jesus! How are we doing at that? When people look at me, what do they see?
They say older couples start looking more and more like each other after they've been married a number of years. I've been married to Jesus for 65 years now. I hope I'm looking like Him more every year!
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