In this selfie, I love the color and lighting but the prominence of my nose at the expense of my eyes is not the best look.

Even so, our perspective may be flawed when understanding God’s choices. In an attempt to understand the “perfect” heart, our focus may be entirely on the wrong thing.

God’s character qualities/attributes include: omnipotence (sovereignty), omniscience (all knowing) and omnipresence (ever present), which provide Him a much better ability to decide what choice to make. In fact, who are we to argue with the Creator’s wisdom? BibleHub.com

Truly, some are created to show God’s power (such as Pharaoh in Moses’ day). Others are chosen, regardless of merit or ability (such as Jacob over Esau). But truly incredible is the offspring of Abraham (Issac). He became the child of promise to fulfill God’s covenant promise to Abraham, in response to faith.

As we, like Abraham, trust God’s new covenant promise (the Lord, Christ Jesus) may our hearts be changed. To think that we are given freedom from the curse of Adam’s sin nature in order to become a new creation (in Christ), how much more will we be willing to trust God’s choice?

Over and over, I am grateful for God’s grace to the “Gentiles” (like me), in order to bring a right perspective (no longer trapped by sin and death).

Will you receive His grace today? (for it is by grace that we are saved through faith.) We are not saved “by works” but to be involved in HIS work- for God’s glory. Help me, Lord, to walk with You. -Teresa #keepitinperspective

Romans 9:1-24English Standard Version* (italics added)

God’s Sovereign Choice

9 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— ² that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³ For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers,^[a] my kinsmen according to the flesh. ⁴ They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. ⁵ To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

⁶ But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, ⁷ and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”⁸ This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.⁹ For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁰ And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, ¹¹ though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— ¹² she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” ¹³ As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

¹⁴ What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! ¹⁵ For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” ¹⁶ So then it depends not on human will or exertion,^[b] but on God, who has mercy. ¹⁷ For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” ¹⁸ So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

¹⁹ You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” ²⁰ But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” ²¹ Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? ²² What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, ²³ in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— ²⁴ even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?Read full chapter

Footnotes

1. Romans 9:3 Or brothers and sisters
2. Romans 9:16 Greek not of him who wills or runs

*The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.

Ephesians 2:7-10 (ESV)

[7] so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. [8] For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9] not a result of works, so that no one may boast. [10] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.