For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
—Romans 8:29
Scripture teaches us about personal election. It does this not only in single passages, but also in the whole history of its being worked out here in time through the counsels of eternity. We continually see how the whole future of God’s kingdom depends on the faithful filling of His place by some single person. The only security for the carrying out of God’s purpose is His foreordaining of the individual. In predestination alone, the history of the world and of God’s kingdom, as of the individual believer, has its sure foundation.
There are Christians who cannot see this. They are so afraid of interfering with human responsibility that they reject the doctrine of divine predestination because it appears to rob man of his liberty of will. Scripture does not share this fear. It speaks in one place of man’s free will as though there were no election. In another place, it speaks of election as though there were no free will. Thus, it teaches us that we must hold fast to both of these truths, even when we cannot understand them or make them harmonize. In the light of eternity, the solution of the mystery will be given. He who grasps both in faith will see that the stronger his faith is in God’s everlasting purpose, the more his courage for work will be strengthened. While, on the other hand, the more he works and is blessed, the clearer it will become that all is of God.
For this reason, it is so important for a believer to make his election sure. Believer, take time and prayer to understand this truth, and let it exercise its full power in your soul. Let the Holy Spirit write it into your innermost being that you are “predestinate[d] to be conformed to the image of his Son.” Let this be your purpose, too, in all your life—to show forth the image of your Elder Brother, that other Christians may be pointed to Him alone, may praise Him alone, and seek to follow Him more closely.