Chosen, Called, and Confirmed

I glanced down at my phone. “Just confirming that we’re still on for lunch at noon today,” the text read. We had set the meeting a few weeks back, and my friend wanted to be sure that neither of us had forgotten, run into a conflict, or gotten the details wrong. Confirming an appointment is a wise practice that Peter recommends today. But Peter wants us to confirm the most important appointment of all: our entrance into the eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ at the end of our lives. How can we be sure that our place is reserved? How can we know that we will receive a “rich entrance (1:11)?” To answer that, we need to unpack two important Bible words: “calling” and “election.”

The word “election” simply means to “choose.” In the Bible, it refers to the fact that God chooses to love and save sinful people long before we would or could choose to love him (Deut 7:7–8; 1 John 4:10). This basic idea is all over the biblical story, from God choosing Abram to be the father of his people, to his choosing Israel out of all the nations of the earth, to his choice of David as his anointed king, to Jesus choosing his disciples. Now Peter tells his readers that God has chosen them. What amazing love!

Your “calling” refers to that moment when God acts on his choice to save you by personally intervening in your life. One day Jesus showed up in Peter’s life and summoned him with the words: “Put down your nets and follow me.” That personal call was all it took: Peter dropped what he was doing, took off after Jesus, and was never the same again. He had been called. Your own “calling” may not seem as dramatic, but if you trust Jesus right now, it is because he personally called you to salvation. Maybe it was through a sermon, private Bible reading, or a conversation with a Christian. But at a moment in time, God singled you out, called you to believe, and you answered.

These twin truths of calling and election highlight God’s grace in our salvation. We do not initiate it. We do not deserve it. We don’t go looking for it. We don’t even want it! Yet in his great love, God overcomes our unwillingness, apathy, suspicion, and sin, and saves us. We have victory in Jesus because he sought us and bought us; he loved us before we ever knew him. When I recognize God’s grace to me I am humbled, filled with thanksgiving, moved to worship, and given tremendous security. My salvation rests not on my commitment to God, but on his commitment to me. Blessed relief!

And now we are ready to return to our initial question. How can I confirm that God has chosen and called me? How can I have assurance that I really have been saved, and that God is now leading me home to the eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ?

Peter does not tell us to look back to a prayer we prayed long ago, to the fact that we are baptized, or belong to a church. He tells us that we “make our calling and election sure” by “diligently practicing” those godly qualities he outlined in 1:5–9. Our pursuit of godliness is not what saves us, but it supplies the evidence that God is saving us. Our desire to know and grow in the Lord (imperfect and inconsistent as it is) demonstrates that he has chosen us, called us, changed our hearts, and is preparing a rich entrance for us in Jesus’ eternal kingdom. At the same time, if I’m not actively pursuing the Lord, I can’t enjoy the assurance of salvation that is meant to carry me through my Christian life.

How about you? Are you confirming your calling and election?

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Article by Eric Smith
Senior Pastor, Sharon Baptist Church