Called, Chosen, and Faithful

Revelation 17:14(NKJV)

14These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.”

Wow.  Called, chosen, and faithful.  For some reason I really like the sound of that. 

Called.  God called us to come to Him.  He issued the invitation.  What do you do when you issue an invitation?  You choose who you are going to send it to.  God chose to send the invitation to us!  Pretty cool.

But what I really want to focus on is the last part.  Faithfulness.  Let's look at the definition of the word faithful.   

faith·ful

1. strict or thorough in the performance of duty: a faithful worker.

2. true to one's word, promises, vows, etc.

3. steady in allegiance or affection; loyal; constant: faithful friends.

4. reliable, trusted, or believed.

5. adhering or true to fact, a standard, or an original; accurate: a faithful account; a faithful copy.

Pasted from <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/faithful?s=t>

What I want to point out here is that of the three words: called, chosen, and faithful; two of those words are in God's control but one of them is not.  It's in our control.

Think about that.  In God's magnificent plan, a part of that plan depends on us.  Now please don't take this out of context.  I'm not saying hey look how great us humans are.  That's not my point.

My point is that God gave us free will and that is even evident here in His plan.  His plan is that we will be there with Him at the end.  He actually has faith in us that we will come through for Him in the end and be faithful.  Now He has the power to make sure that happens but He doesn't use it.  He depends on us to ultimately make the correct choice. 

Now does He expect that of everyone?  Nope.  Only of those who have accepted His son Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.   Have you done that yet?  Do you want to be standing there with God at the end being counted as one who was faithful?  If so then why not just ask Jesus to come into your life right now?  Just talk to Jesus.  "Dear Jesus…."

Now why does He expect that of those who accepted Jesus but not of the others?  Well I believe its because God knows that He has equipped those that follow Jesus with the ability to be faithful and come through for Him.  And here is the final point I want to make. 

If God has that much faith in you, what's holding you back in life?  If He will give you the courage to be faithful to Him in the end times, what else has He given you the courage to accomplish today?