A seed of my family's heritage

I have an incredible family heritage of great men and women of faith!

My Aunty's blog 'Letters of hope' have been an inspiration for many, including myself, and I would encourage you to look through her site - the link is on the bottom of my page.

Her most recent one is a segment of study of how God foreknew, chose, called, justified and glorified His people...

This particular one that I am sharing from is "Called".

...Called! Another wonder-full word that, in the Scriptures, follows Chosen. In his letter to the Church at Rome, Paul explained the progression from God foreknowing us, to His choosing us, to His calling us, followed by our being justified and glorified! ...

...It is God Who does the calling, and He calls all those whom He has chosen to be His sons and heirs, conformed to His image and likeness, and prepared to reign with Him in His Kingdom. When we are convicted by His Holy Spirit, repent of our sin, and are “born again” of the Spirit, it is an indication that we are called to be members of His Body which is the Church...

...When He saved us, He called us with a holy calling, not according to what we did, or what we deserved, but in accordance with His own purpose and the free grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the ages began...

...I think we have not fully understood all of God’s purpose in choosing and calling us, justifying and glorifying us, but He does give us some insights.

First of all, He has called us into His Kingdom and Glory and Virtue, to make us partakers of His Divine nature...

...“He has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light;” when once we did not have an identity, but now we are “the people of God…for the purpose of proclaiming, or making known, His perfections, virtues and praises”. (1 Peter 2:9,10)...

...We are called to experience the Peace of God, and Paul admonishes us to “let it rule in our hearts, and to be thankful.” (Col. 3:14, 15)...

...We are called unto liberty – the freedom wherewith Christ has made us free. Such liberty is to be used to “by love serve one another.” Even as we are called in one hope of our calling, we are to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in that bond of Peace. (Gal. 5:1; Eph. 4:3, 4) ...

...Not the least of all of these is our calling “unto the fellowship of Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1 Cor. 1:9)“…Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ.” Can there really be anything more glorious than this? Intimate fellowship with our loving Heavenly Father, and our Savior and Lord Jesus? Even our Elder Brother? (1 John 1:3)...

(A response from Aunty Eulene in the comments...)

There is so much truth in the fact of God’s having chosen, called, justified and glorified us, His children. I have had no problem with the past tense of chosen, called and justified, but I didn’t understand how “glorified” could be in the past tense. Wasn’t that for some future state? It spoke so loudly to me that I checked all my resources to define what “glorified” really means. Words like honor, exalt, ennoble, laud, sanctify, etc. came to the fore. And then a shaft of “light” fell again on the fact that we believers are called “saints” and that He has raised us up together, and made us sit together in Christ Jesus at the right hand of the Father in the heavenly realm. I rather think that “glorified” (past tense) is quite in keeping with Father’s acceptance of us as His beloved children.

The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell;

It goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell!

The guilty pair bowed down with care God gave His Son to win;

His erring child He reconciled, and pardoned from his sin.
Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made,

Were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill, and ev’ry man a scribe by trade;

To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry;

Nor could the scroll contain the whole, tho’ stretched from sky to sky.
O Love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure, the saints’ and angels’ song.
F. M. Lehman

Thank you Aunty for the rich supply of blessings you are - you are the older woman who lovingly teaches the younger, your wealth of love and wisdom in God's Word is a treasure, and the poetry and hymns are like cherries of top! May God continue to bless you and keep you!

(an old photo of us when I was in Junior High)