He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.  2 Timothy 1:9, 10

One phrase glows in this passage, “because of his own purpose and grace.” It keeps flashing on and off.  And it starts other phrases to light up as well, such as Jesus’ statement in the Upper Room when he was confiding with his disciples about his relationship with them.  He said, “You did not choose me but I chose you.”  John 15:16  What a revelation!

I cannot get into the skin of the disciples but they might have been thinking, as I tend to do, that we wisely decide, after deliberation, to follow Jesus Christ. As we read how Jesus chose his disciples, there is not a hint that any disciple joined Jesus because he thought Jesus was the best choice. No.  They joined Jesus because he invited them to do so.

God called us “because of his own purpose and grace.”  In other words, he called us because he needs us in working out his purpose, not ours.  That idea conflicts with our human tendency to want to be in control.  Jesus calls us to fulfil his purposes, not ours.

As I look back on 72 years of following Christ, sometimes haltingly, I now realize that I was created for that purpose and, behold, somewhere along the line I discovered that was my desire as well, and finding, to my amazement that as I found my place in God’s plan, behold, I found myself!

His way is not easy. Knowing that this will be very difficult for us, he provides unlimited grace to us to stop thinking like that and to place our lives in His hands.  We now live by the same grace that was given to Jesus Christ who, surprisingly, destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.  That is the way to live!  It is that grace that enabled Paul to be true to Jesus as he experienced some very difficult things in the last months of his life that we read about in this letter.  May that flood of grace overflow us right now.