chosen.

"And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified." Romans 8:30

What an amazing verse. I want to break down what each of those things actually mean.

The Predestining.
Greek word, proorizō, meaning to "decide beforehand." Jeremiah 29:11 comes to mind. "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'" The verse right before verse 30 says we are "predestined to conform to the likeness of His Son." By sending His Son, God has given us a prosperous hope and future.

The Calling.
No specific word for "call" in Romans 8:30 was given on my source for Greek words. I searched on Google and found an article that broke down all the original words for call, calling, or called in the Bible. They determined that the call that Paul was talking about in this verse was that "God sovereignly calls men individually to salvation and to service." (Bible.org) So, those He chose beforehand, He also chose for specific reasons, salvation and service. Another way Paul might have meant the term "called" is that God called us by name before we were born. It shows how intimately and closely He knows us. "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." Psalm 139:13

The Justification.
The Greek word for justified is dikaioō, meaning "to render righteous." God justified us? He rendered us righteous? The opposite of righteous is unrighteousness, which is basically sin, right? So, rendered us sinless. God made us as pure as snow by sending His Son to take our unrighteousness and replace it with His. In July of 2008 at Harbor, Pastor Tom said something so profound that has stuck with me ever since. He said "Jesus became disgusting to God." God hated Jesus? The Son was forsaken by the Father. Why would a Father forsake His Son? The answer? Because He loved you and me.

The Glorification.
The Greek word, doxazō means, "to praise, extol, magnify, celebrate, to honour, do honour to, hold in honour, to make glorious, adorn with lustre, clothe with splendour, to impart glory to something, and to render it excellent." How can God, so glorious, clothe us with splendor? Honor us, extol us, and celebrate us? All caught up into rendering us excellent? When I look at the mess I am, I can't even imagine how God can see me as something even worth saving. But, He does, and I'm on my knees because of it. How great is the God we worship?

God promises us in His word that simply because He predestined, called, and justified us, we will be glorified for it. Understand the key part of that sentence. HE. He will get all the glory because we're His chosen. He chose us, we didn't choose Him. Trying to grasp the greatness of our God leaves me with a headache and a complete unworthiness in the pit of my stomach. It's hard to imagine such a love without feeling a hard pang of guilt. All I can do is embrace this great love and forgiveness with trembling hands and offer my life and body to the One and Only Jesus Christ. I hope that the world soon learns of this love and begins to realize that God has predestined them for excellence and righteousness.