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• Before, Now and After

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 Before, now and after

Surely, there may have been times that we all have wondered about our destiny
and the reason of our presence in this world. Why are we on this earth? What is the
purpose of our presence in this world? What are the thoughts of God about us? Today, I
would like to see with you what the Word of God says about questions as the above, so
that we may appreciate better the true answers that it gives.

1. Chosen before the foundation of the world

To start we will go to Ephesians 1:3-6. There we read:

Ephesians 1:3-6
«Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as HE CHOSE US IN HIM
BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, THAT WE SHOULD BE HOLY
AND WITHOUT BLAME BEFORE HIM IN LOVE, having predestined us to adoption
as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the
praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the beloved»

God chose us in Christ BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, that

we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. The fact that we are here and
we know God is therefore not «accidental». God foreknew us (Romans 8:29), and before
the foundation of the world He chose us in Christ to be HIS CHILDREN, holy and
without blame before Him.

2. Psalms 139:1-16

The Lord´s involvement concerning our presence in this world, is also evident
from Psalm 139. There, starting from verse 13, we read:
Psalms 139:13-16
«YOU made my whole being; YOU formed me in my mother´s body. I praise you
because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way. Your works are wonderful. I
know this very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret
place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed
body. All the days planned for me were written in your book before one of them came to
be.»
[NIV-New Century Version]

God had seen us, before we were born. All the days planned for us were written in
His book while still nothing of them had happened. His eyes saw our unformed body and
HE gave us the shape and the form we have. He made us in an amazing and wonderful
way. His works are all wonderful and we are one of them.
But Psalm 139 does not stop there. Taking it from the beginning we read:

Psalms 139:1-3
«O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my
rising up; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying
down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it
completely, O Lord.»

The Lord knows everything about us. He understands our thoughts from afar and
there is nothing hidden from Him. All that we do, and all that we think are fully known
to Him. And the same Psalm continues:

Psalm 139:5-12
«You have hedged me behind, and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such
knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your
Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; If I
make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on
the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me
fast. If I say, «Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,»
even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day for darkness is
as light to You.»

God has hedged us behind and before and His hand is laid upon us. Each one of us
is a man that GOD chose, GOD formed, and for whom GOD cares and knows
everything, even our sitting down and rising up. He is with us always and there is no
place where He is not. As Paul says in Romans 8:38-39

Romans 8:38-39
«For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, not any other created thing,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.»

There is absolutely nothing that is able to separate us from God´s love. He loved us so
much that He gave His own Son, Jesus Christ. No wonder therefore that Romans 8:32
says:

Romans 8:32
«He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not
with Him also freely give us all things?»

Really, would it ever be possible that God would spare anything good for us when
He didn´t spare His own Son? Would it ever be possible to leave us for example? Who of
us would leave something that he loves so much and for which he paid such a high price?
And if we would, He will never. As He says in Hebrews 13:5
Hebrews 13:5
«I will never leave you nor forsake you»

and also Isaiah 49:15

«I WILL NOT FORGET YOU.»

God will never leave us nor forsake us. He will never forget us, and there is
nothing that can separate us from His love. He cares for each one of us PERSONALLY.
For us He went so far as to give even His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

3. Psalm 139:17-18

But Psalm 139 does not stop here. Continuing from verse 17 we read:

Psalms 139:17-18
«How precious are your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to
count them, they would outnumber the grains of the sand;»

And Psalms 40:5

«Many, O Lord my God, are your wonderful works which you have done; and your
thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to you in order; if I would declare and speak of
them they are more than can be numbered»

God´s thoughts for us are precious and their number is countless: THEY
OUTNUMBER THE GRAINS OF THE SAND! And as He says for them in Jeremiah
29:11

Jeremiah 29:11
«I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not
of evil»
 The thoughts of the Lord for us are thoughts of good and peace. We are not in His
mind just for a few minutes in which He makes some spontaneous thoughts concerning
us. We were in His mind before the foundation of the world. His thoughts for us
outnumber any number and nothing can separate us from His love. Thus, as Hebrews
13:5-6 tells us:

Hebrews 13:5-6
«For He Himself has said, «I will never leave you nor forsake you.» So we may boldly
say: «The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?»

And as Proverbs counsels us:

Proverbs 3:5-6
«Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all
your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.»

Let us trust in the Lord with all our heart and leave HIM to direct us. He has not
promised that storms will never come. However, He knows how to calm them. In the
great storm that hit the boat with the disciples in Mark 4:37, it was enough a «Be still» of
the Lord to the sea and «there was a great calm». When a storm comes, when tribulation
arrives, He knows not only to bring calmness but also to use the tribulation for our
benefit, «knowing that tribulation produces patience; and patience, experience; and
experience hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been
poured out in our hearts by the holy spirit which is given to us» (Romans 5:3-5)

4. Sited in the heavenlies

But the Lord´s vision concerning us is not only about this small life. In fact, as I
Peter 2:11 tells us, we are but strangers and foreigners here. And as Philippians 3:20-21
says:
Philippians 3:20-21
«For our citizenship IS IN HEAVEN, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to
His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all
things to Himself»

Our real home is in heavens. There we belong, and there is our true citizenship. It is there
that God sees already, sited together with the Lord Jesus Christ:

Ephesians 2:4-7
«But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even
when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have
been saved), AND RAISED US UP TOGETHER, AND MADE US SIT TOGETHER IN
THE HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST JESUS»

From God´s point of view, we are already sited in the heavenlies, together with
Christ. HE is our vision and the one to whom we should look at. As it says in Hebrews
12:1-2

Hebrews 12:1-2
«let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and
finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross despising
the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.»

To run a race consistently we need to have a clear vision of what we want to attain
and the purpose we run. Otherwise, we will be running «with uncertainty», «as one who
beats the air» (I Corinthians 9:26). We can run our race consistently only by looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our salvation. We are here TO DO THE WILL OF
GOD. WHAT HE SAYS IN HIS WORD AND WHAT HE HAS CALLED EACH ONE
OF US TO DO. THIS IS THE REASON THAT WE LIVE AND THE PURPOSE OF
OUR LIFE. We are followers of Jesus Christ and as He confirms us: «He who follows
me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life» (John 8:12)

Conclusion

As it may be clear from the above, we are not people that just happened to be
here, without a purpose to live. God foreknew us and He chose us in Christ BEFORE
THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. He has chosen YOU and it was HE that
formed you and gave you the shape that you have. As with all His works, you are
WONDERFUL too. He was personally engaged in your formation and He saw your body
before it was formed. All the days planned for you were written in His book while
nothing of them had still happened. You are not accidental in this world. You are not part
of a crowd but a wonderful creation of God. You are a child of God chosen from Him
before the world began. God is with you, hedging you behind and before and there is no
place that you are and He is not. God loves YOU, PERSONALLY, my friend, and He
loves you so much that nothing can separate you from His love. His thoughts for you are
countless. They outnumber any number. His presence is not a matter of feelings but an
unchanged reality. God is not with you when you feel it and He disappears when you do
not feel it. He is with you either you feel it or not. He loves you either you feel worthy of
His love or not. You are His child regardless of how much you feel it. This is what God´s
Word, the TRUTH, says and truth is independent of feelings. He has given you eternal
life and you are going to be with Him forever! Though others may just flow in the stream
of life, aimlessly and without purpose, you have a purpose: TO DO THE WILL OF
YOUR FATHER. TO DO WHAT IT PLEASES HIM. To run the race consistently
concentrating not on the things of this earth, but on the things of above from where your
savior, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, is coming. There you belong, and there you will be
forever.

Tassos Kioulachoglou