Rick Warren's Daily DevotionalSample

God Chose You Before You Chose Him God chose you long before you chose Him. God took the initiative. The Good News translation puts it this way: "You were chosen according to the purpose of God." Why would God choose you or me to be a part of his family? Because he is a God of love; he is a God of grace. The more you understand grace, the more you're going to be amazed by it. God chose you. Did you deserve it? Not a chance. Do you deserve to go to Heaven? No way! Are you good enough to be in God's family? No. He just chose you. And that's good news. On what basis did He chose you? First Peter 1:3 says, "For it is His boundless mercy that has given us the privilege of being born again so that now we are members of God's own family." God chose you based on his mercy, not your performance. You'll never earn it. You'll never deserve it. You couldn't work hard enough for it. You couldn't be perfect enough. It's only because of God's grace and mercy that the Creator of the universe says, "I want you in my family." If that doesn't encourage you, you'd better check your pulse.