Chosen to Live

It was the deadliest mass shooting committed by an individual in U.S. history. On the night of October 1, 2017, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock opened fire from the Mandalay Bay Hotel into a crowd of concertgoers on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. Over ten minutes, Paddock indiscriminately fired nearly 1,100 rifle rounds—killing 58 people and injuring 851 others, before he ended his own life.

Some people believe God randomly kills people. They think the Lord has chosen some people to be in heaven and others to burn in hell. In a misunderstood view of the word “predestined,” they conclude that the Lord has indiscriminately picked who will live forever and who will die. It makes God out to be sadistic and hides the truth that the Lord wants everyone to be saved.

The apostle Paul wrote that God “predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” (Ephesians 1:5). The verb to predestinate means “to determine beforehand” and “to set apart.” People hearing Paul’s letter believed that their future was predestined by stars and planets. So it was good news to know that God had a better plan for them.

The truth is that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). His plan is inclusive, not arbitrarily exclusive. The Lord is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

Jesus died for everyone and “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). While God has made possible the gift of salvation for everyone and has chosen each of us, we may choose to reject His offer. The lost are not randomly chosen by God to go to hell; they walk away from eternal life by their own free will.

Apply It:

God has chosen you, but have you chosen Him? If you have not accepted Jesus’ gift of salvation, why not ask Him into your life now?

Dig Deeper:

Joshua 24:15; Romans 8:29, 30; Ephesians 1:11, 12

Key Bible Texts

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: (Ephesians 1:4 KJV)