The chicken or the egg

(Acts 2:39) “…everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself."

How often have you heard reference made to the chicken or the egg? What came first the chicken or the egg? This is a fabulous example of what should be an obvious deduction of the Christians relationship with the only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is obvious the chicken came before the egg; God created and then “they” (all of His creation) were instructed to go forth and multiply. The chicken first and then the egg, God first and then the saved individuals change in character. It is impossible for it to happen the other way around. If you are amongst the sect of Christians that believes that you chose God before he chose you, or God could see how good you would become in the future on your own merits and this is the reason why you can now claim to be a Christian. It cannot be so, I am convinced that it has nothing to do with us and everything to do with Him.

If it’s the egg mentality that looks to dominate your reasoning all that illustrates is that you are still acting out of a carnal understanding pertaining to humanism, which lacks faith altogether. How so? It is the same mind-set of the chicken and the egg. What came first and if you are one that gravitates towards the egg, it denounces creation as we have come to understand through the teachings of the book of Genesis. Without God’s intervention there would be no egg. This is a point we must grasp with clarity, if not we will be opening ourselves to a whole lot of potential dangers when it come to our pride an arrogance. Until we truly understand that it is God who chooses and calls and we can only ever respond favourable when He initiates that call. Until then we will never see Him for who He is. This understanding frees our minds up to honour Him with due benevolence.

Let us reason this out; why do we pray for loved ones that aren’t saved. We need God to hear our prayer and intervene on our behalf. If this was not so, we could send a lifetime with well constructed deliberations to try and persuade people to see what we have seen, that Christ is the only true answer to our existence. How often have you been shut down when you have approached loved ones with that type of presentation? God must initiate life into a person that is dead in their trespasses and their sins before the light switch is flipped. Saul who later became Paul is a classic example of this truth. A man who persecuted the church and had Christians killed, hell bend on his own ideas of what he thought was right until God intervened in person; “Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”” (Acts 9:3-5) – Its when we understand this that we will be free to serve God without any hint of pride feeding our attentions with that nagging voice that we once believed that salvation had something to do with us. God is merciful and gracious and without His role in our conversion we would still be groping in the dark for the answer to life.      

We need Him for everything in our daily lives. The sooner this becomes our actuality, the easily life will become to bear whatever is thrown in front of us. “If God is for us who can be against us?”

With this understanding in tow, let us explore David’s psalm; “A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” (Psalms 23:1-6) - David certainly understood this…

Spend time in this Psalm and see what God reveals to you about His interference in your life Christian and it will be sweeter that honey, praise God for His involvement in our lives, without it we would still be dead in our trespasses and our sins, praise His holy name now and forever more, Amen and Amen! Thank you Lord Jesus for the call that you placed upon my life, you are truly worthy of all praise and honour. Boasting has been excluded. I am truly a by-product of your grace and please continually remind me of this fact, which will keep me humble, Amen!

Signing off

Tyrone