You recently said to me something like, &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t go any faster than the Lord is taking us.&rdquo; This is very true. But it&#39;s also true (and important to understand) that we can go much SLOWER than He is trying to lead us, and we do this whenever obedience doesn&rsquo;t keep pace with knowledge. I believe this was my problem for years, though I was far from understanding it. When I began to understand that true Christian growth was a work of the Spirit of God, and not a work of man&rsquo;s discipline, effort, or learning, I assumed that I was therefore being led along just as fast as the Lord desired. I had a desire to grow, to follow the Lord, and didn&rsquo;t want to waste my time (like Israel) doing circles in the wilderness. And because I felt a zeal to move forward, and a willingness to learn, I supposed that any lack of change in my heart, or lack of growth, was simply due to it not yet being the &ldquo;Lord&rsquo;s time&rdquo;. But I have since been enabled to see that I was operating under a great misunderstanding (or deception) with regard to this point. Spiritual growth is indeed a work of the Spirit, but there are many ways that man can work against the Spirit, and perhaps the most common have to do with the HUNDREDS of &ldquo;little ways&rdquo; that our heart or will does not humbly and sincerely submit to and obey the measure of spiritual understanding that we currently have. I mean, the various ways that we don&rsquo;t really live according to what we already know. It&rsquo;s important to realize that the reason God teaches us is not primarily so that we possess correct information. He teaches us so that we&nbsp;see the correct path and then walk in it, with a humble and resigned heart. There is great confusion on this issue. Man naturally and almost universally assumes that his primary problem is a lack of spiritual knowledge or understanding. We can feel that something is wrong, or that we should be further along, and so we read and study and listen to teachings, thinking all the time that our increased understanding is also increased spiritual growth. But the truth is, our primary problem usually has nothing to do with needing more spiritual information. Our problem, and the reason for our lack of growth, is that we haven&rsquo;t truly surrendered our heart and lives (inwardly and outwardly) to the things that we have already been shown. Now, upon hearing this, man is very quick to defend and justify himself, either insisting (like the rich young ruler) that he hasn&rsquo;t broken any of the major commandments of God, or that he is patiently waiting for God to speak to him or show him what he is supposed to do. But this is usually a great deception. Because, again, while man waits, and wants to put the blame on God&rsquo;s timing, or on his own lack of understanding or revelation, there are generally a multitude of &ldquo;little&rdquo; ways that man is not living up to what he already knows to be right. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say, there are a multitude of ways that his will has not yet given up to the revealed will of God. It&rsquo;s not really that he doesn&rsquo;t know enough; it&#39;s simply that he wants something else. Now, I am not suggesting that man, by the exertion of his will, can produce spiritual life or growth. No. As Paul says, only &ldquo;God gives the increase&rdquo; (1 Cor 3:6-7) But though man cannot create spiritual life, he can and must submit to spiritual life when it appears. Man cannot create real righteousness, goodness, virtue, or purity in the strength of his flesh, but he can (and must) submit his will in humble surrender to absolutely everything that the Light makes manifest, and to everything that the Spirit desires to put to death and to make alive in him. This is a little like saying that man cannot create the wind, but he can put up his sail and be driven by its power&hellip; or he can drop his sail and drift in a contrary direction. And in this sense, man is either carefully and vigilantly following the pillar of fire towards the Promised Land, or he is falling behind, losing his way, and then often complaining that the fault lies in &ldquo;God&rsquo;s timing,&rdquo; or in God not making His will sufficiently clear. What I&rsquo;m trying to say is that when we don&rsquo;t actually turn at His rebuke, surrender our hearts, wills, and lives to the multitude of little ways that God shows us our contrariness to Him, then we stop moving forward. And at that point it doesn&rsquo;t really matter how much we want Him to show us His power, or teach us something new and exciting. When obedience doesn&rsquo;t keep pace with knowledge, our eyes grow dim, our ears become deaf, our hearts get hard, and we stop crossing the wilderness. I mean when God makes manifest something in our lives, in our words, desires, pursuits, in our religion, our behavior, our relationships, etc. that is wrong, dead, empty, hypocritical, selfish, proud, or is in any way opposed to His truth and purpose, etc., this is not so that we just understand or recognize what is contrary to God. No. We are given an ability to feel these convictions and see these things so that we &ldquo;obey the truth through the Spirit,&rdquo; (1 Pet 1:22), &ldquo;practice the truth&rdquo; (John 3:21), and &ldquo;hate even the garment that has been defiled by the flesh.&rdquo; (Jude 1:23). We are shown what is unclean so that we will no longer touch it.&nbsp;We are shown what is dead so that we will bury it; that is, end our relationship with it. We are shown what is Babylon so that we &ldquo;Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.&rdquo; God&rsquo;s light shines in the heart and manifests all sorts of things and ways and words that are not of the Father, but of the world, the flesh, and the devil. &ldquo;All things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatever makes manifest is light&rdquo; (Eph 5:13). By His light we are enabled to see, and by His grace we are empowered to leave behind one thing after another that we have inherited from Adam, until we have parted with all for His sake. And this is the only way to continue growing. I mention all this only because I don&rsquo;t want you to fall short of God&rsquo;s desire for you, or for your church. For the sake of your own heart, and for the sake of your group there, it is extremely important that your obedience keep pace with your understanding. I know you preach things that are true, but it is even more important to LIVE the truth in everything. I know you preach the cross, but it is much more important that you carry the cross in your private and public life, in all things. If you are able to see things in your life, in your words, in the way you run the church there, etc. that are not right, or that are empty words, lifeless traditions, ANYTHING that does not manifest your current knowledge of the truth, then these things will hinder you from moving forward. I write to you in love, and with a strong desire to see you and all the people there continue to grow in the Life of truth. &nbsp;

Obedience Must Keep Pace with Knowledge

Hace poco me dijiste algo as&iacute; como: &ldquo;No podemos ir m&aacute;s r&aacute;pido de lo que el Se&ntilde;or nos conduce&rdquo;. Esto es muy cierto. Pero tambi&eacute;n es cierto (y es muy importante entenderlo) que s&iacute; podemos ir mucho M&Aacute;S DESPACIO de lo que &Eacute;l est&aacute; tratando de conducirnos, y esto lo hacemos siempre que la obediencia no va de la mano con el conocimiento. Creo que &eacute;ste fue mi problema durante a&ntilde;os, aunque estaba lejos de comprenderlo. Cuando empec&eacute; a comprender que el verdadero crecimiento cristiano era una obra del Esp&iacute;ritu de Dios, y no una obra de la disciplina, el esfuerzo o el aprendizaje del hombre, supuse que, por lo tanto, estaba siendo conducido tan r&aacute;pido como el Se&ntilde;or deseaba. Ten&iacute;a el deseo de crecer, de seguir al Se&ntilde;or, y no quer&iacute;a perder el tiempo (como Israel) dando vueltas en el desierto. Y como sent&iacute;a un celo por avanzar, y una voluntad de aprender, supuse que cualquier falta de cambio en mi coraz&oacute;n, o falta de crecimiento, se deb&iacute;a simplemente a que todav&iacute;a no era el &ldquo;tiempo del Se&ntilde;or&rdquo;. Pero desde entonces he sido capaz de ver que estaba operando bajo un gran malentendido (o, mejor dicho, un enga&ntilde;o) con respecto a este punto. No hay duda de que el crecimiento espiritual es una obra del Esp&iacute;ritu, pero hay muchas maneras en las que el hombre puede trabajar en contra del Esp&iacute;ritu, y quiz&aacute;s las m&aacute;s comunes tienen que ver con los CIENTOS de &ldquo;peque&ntilde;as maneras&rdquo; en que nuestro coraz&oacute;n o voluntad no se somete humilde y sinceramente, y obedece la medida de entendimiento espiritual que actualmente tenemos. Quiero decir, las diversas maneras en las que no vivimos realmente conforme a lo que ya sabemos. Es importante comprender que la raz&oacute;n por la que Dios nos ense&ntilde;a no es principalmente para que poseamos la informaci&oacute;n correcta. Nos ense&ntilde;a para que veamos el camino correcto y caminemos por &eacute;l, todos los d&iacute;as, con un coraz&oacute;n humilde y resignado. Existe una gran confusi&oacute;n sobre este tema en la iglesia. El hombre asume natural y casi universalmente que su problema principal es la falta de conocimiento o comprensi&oacute;n espiritual. Sentimos que algo est&aacute; mal, o que deber&iacute;amos estar m&aacute;s avanzados, y entonces leemos y estudiamos y escuchamos ense&ntilde;anzas, pensando todo el tiempo que avanzar en la comprensi&oacute;n es avanzar en el crecimiento espiritual. Pero la verdad es que nuestro problema principal normalmente no tiene nada que ver con necesitar m&aacute;s informaci&oacute;n espiritual. Nuestro problema, y la raz&oacute;n de nuestra falta de crecimiento, es que no hemos rendido verdaderamente nuestro coraz&oacute;n y nuestras vidas (tanto interior como exteriormente) a las cosas que ya se nos han mostrado. Ahora bien, al o&iacute;r esto, el hombre se apresura a defenderse y justificarse, ya sea insistiendo (como el joven rico que habl&oacute; con Jes&uacute;s) en que no ha quebrantado ninguno de los principales mandamientos de Dios, o que est&aacute; esperando pacientemente a que Dios le hable o le muestre lo que debe hacer. Pero esto es generalmente un gran enga&ntilde;o. Porque, de nuevo, mientras el hombre espera, y quiere echarle la culpa al tiempo de Dios, o a su propia falta de entendimiento o revelaci&oacute;n, normalmente hay una multitud de &ldquo;peque&ntilde;as&rdquo; maneras en las que no est&aacute; cumpliendo con lo que ya sabe que es correcto. O tal vez sea m&aacute;s exacto decir, hay una multitud de maneras en que su voluntad a&uacute;n no se ha rendido a la voluntad revelada de Dios. En realidad, no es que no sepa lo suficiente, sino que quiere otra cosa. Ahora bien, no estoy sugiriendo que el hombre, mediante el esfuerzo de su voluntad, pueda producir vida o crecimiento espiritual. No. Como dice Pablo, s&oacute;lo &ldquo;Dios da el crecimiento&rdquo; (1 Cor 3:6-7) Pero aunque el hombre no puede crear vida espiritual, puede y debe someterse a la vida espiritual cuando aparece. El hombre no puede crear verdadera justicia, bondad, virtud o pureza en la fuerza de su carne, pero puede (y debe) someter su voluntad en humilde rendici&oacute;n a absolutamente TODO lo que la Luz hace manifiesto, y a todo lo que el Esp&iacute;ritu desea hacer morir o vivificar en &eacute;l. Es como decir que el hombre no puede crear el viento, pero s&iacute; puede izar su vela y dejarse llevar por su fuerza... o puede bajar su vela y alejarse en direcci&oacute;n contraria. Y en este sentido, el hombre o bien est&aacute; siguiendo atenta y cuidadosamente la columna de fuego hacia la Tierra Prometida, o bien est&aacute; retras&aacute;ndose, perdi&eacute;ndose, y luego quej&aacute;ndose de que la culpa es del &ldquo;tiempo de Dios&rdquo;, o de que Dios no ha dejado suficientemente clara Su voluntad. Lo que estoy tratando de decir es que cuando no nos volvemos fielmente a Su reprensi&oacute;n, cuando no rendimos nuestros corazones, voluntades y vidas a la multitud de peque&ntilde;as maneras en que Dios nos muestra nuestra contrariedad a &Eacute;l, entonces dejamos de avanzar. Y en ese momento no importa cu&aacute;nto deseemos que &Eacute;l nos muestre Su poder, o nos ense&ntilde;e algo nuevo y emocionante. Cuando la obediencia no sigue el ritmo, o va de la mano con el conocimiento, nuestros ojos se oscurecen, nuestros o&iacute;dos se vuelven sordos, nuestro coraz&oacute;n se endurece, y dejamos de cruzar el desierto. Quiero decir que cuando Dios hace manifiesto algo en nuestras vidas, en nuestras palabras, deseos, b&uacute;squedas, en nuestra religi&oacute;n, nuestro comportamiento, nuestras relaciones, etc. que est&aacute; mal, muerto, vac&iacute;o, hip&oacute;crita, ego&iacute;sta, orgulloso, o es de alguna manera opuesto a Su verdad y prop&oacute;sito, etc., esto no es para que simplemente entendamos o reconozcamos lo que es contrario a Dios. No. Se nos ha dado la capacidad de sentir estas convicciones y ver estas cosas para que &ldquo;obedezcamos la verdad mediante el Esp&iacute;ritu&rdquo; (1 Pe 1:22), &ldquo;practiquemos la verdad&rdquo; (Jn 3:21) y &ldquo;aborrezcamos aun la ropa contaminada por la carne&rdquo; (Judas 1:23). Se nos muestra lo impuro para que no lo toquemos m&aacute;s. Se nos muestra lo que est&aacute; muerto para que lo enterremos; es decir, para que terminemos nuestra relaci&oacute;n con ello. Se nos muestra lo que es de Babilonia para decirnos, &ldquo;Salid de ella, pueblo m&iacute;o, para que no se&aacute;is part&iacute;cipes de sus pecados ni recib&aacute;is parte de sus plagas&rdquo;. La luz de Dios brilla en el coraz&oacute;n y manifiesta toda clase de cosas y caminos y palabras que no son del Padre, sino del mundo, de la carne y del diablo. &ldquo;Todas las cosas que son reprobadas, son hechas manifiestas por la luz, porque lo que manifiesta todo, es la luz.&rdquo; (Ef 5:13). Por Su luz somos capacitados para ver, y por Su gracia somos capacitados para dejar atr&aacute;s una cosa tras otra que hemos heredado de Ad&aacute;n, hasta que nos hayamos separado de todo por Su causa. Y esta es la &uacute;nica manera de seguir creciendo. Menciono todo esto, amigo m&iacute;o, s&oacute;lo porque no quiero que te quedes corto del deseo de Dios para ti, o para tu iglesia. Por el bien de tu propio coraz&oacute;n, y por el bien de tu grupo all&iacute;, es extremadamente importante que tu obediencia siga el ritmo de tu comprensi&oacute;n. S&eacute; que predicas cosas que son verdad, pero es a&uacute;n m&aacute;s importante VIVIR la verdad en todo. S&eacute; que predicas la cruz, pero es mucho m&aacute;s importante que lleves la cruz en tu vida privada y p&uacute;blica, en todas las cosas. Si eres capaz de ver cosas en tu vida, en tus palabras, en la forma en que diriges la iglesia all&iacute;, etc. que no est&aacute;n bien, o que son palabras vac&iacute;as, tradiciones sin vida, CUALQUIER COSA que no manifieste tu conocimiento actual de la verdad, entonces estas cosas te impedir&aacute;n avanzar. Te escribo con amor, y con un fuerte deseo de verte a ti y a toda la gente de all&iacute; seguir creciendo en la Vida de la verdad.

La Obediencia Tiene que Ir de la Mano con el Conocimiento

Words and the Word

Las Palabras y La Palabra

[A response to an email where I was asked, &ldquo;Who chooses who? Do we choose God, or does God choose us?]&nbsp;I believe the answer to your question begins with understanding that God&rsquo;s work in man, His call, or the sowing of His seed, is ALWAYS previous to man&rsquo;s response or work. Man, OF HIMSELF, cannot choose God, find God, know God, or even believe in God with true and living faith. Man, in his natural condition in the fall is &ldquo;dead in sin and transgression&rdquo;, a &ldquo;child of wrath by nature&rdquo;, and we are told that &ldquo;the imagination of man&rsquo;s heart is evil from his youth.&rdquo; If the Lord left us in this condition, every one of us would perish apart from grace. But, as John tells us, we are able to &ldquo;love Him, because He first loved us.&rdquo; (1 John 4:19) And how did God love us first? He loved us by opening the way of redemption through the work of Christ, and by sowing the seed of His kingdom in every type of soil. Many soils reject this seed (because of their hardness, thorns, rocks, and weeds) and so experience little or nothing of its power. Others experience it for only a short time, but then quickly wither and languish because its root finds no room in their heart. But the opportunity is there for all.&nbsp;I think the part that is confusing you is that God only &ldquo;chooses&rdquo; those who respond in humility to His grace, those who meekly and submissively yield to the work of His Spirit. If I had to describe the order, I might say something like this: Grace comes first,&nbsp;both as a work of God in Christ, and as a gift of Christ in man. THEN&nbsp;there is a response of the heart to either love&nbsp;His&nbsp;light, or&nbsp;to&nbsp;hate it (and&nbsp;so&nbsp;remain&nbsp;in darkness).&nbsp;And&nbsp;THEN&nbsp;God chooses all who love the light,&nbsp;who walk in the light, and by it put off the works of darkness. Or you could say, God &ldquo;chooses&rdquo; those who&nbsp;yield to His grace, and so&nbsp;find&nbsp;their&nbsp;life and salvation in&nbsp;Jesus Christ, the&nbsp;Chosen One.&nbsp;So first, &ldquo;the grace of God appears to all men&rdquo; (Tit 2:11). First, Christ offers Himself to all, as the &ldquo;light that enlightens every man that comes in to the world&rdquo; John 1:9. First the Sower goes out and throws His seed in every kind of soil. But only &ldquo;those who RECEIVE Him are given POWER to BECOME sons of God&rdquo; (John 1:12) It&rsquo;s not like God just chooses a few rebellious, wicked, sons of wrath and decides to do good to them, but leaves the rest to wallow in their sin and blindness. No. He &ldquo;died for all&rdquo; (2 Cor 5:14-15), &ldquo;tasted death for every man&rdquo; (Heb 2:9). He calls &ldquo;to all who labor and are heavy laden,&rdquo; and seeks to &ldquo;draw all men to Himself&rdquo; (John 12:32), &ldquo;desiring all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of Himself,&rdquo; (1 Tim. 2:4) and is &ldquo;not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance&rdquo; (2 Pet 3:9). BUT only those who &ldquo;receive with meekness the implanted Word&rdquo; (Jam 1:21) are called &ldquo;chosen&rdquo;, because they are wilfully turning to find their life and their salvation in the only begotten Son of God.&nbsp;It is for this reason that Jesus says &ldquo;Many are called but few are chosen.&rdquo; (Mat 20:16; 22:14) Think about this statement for a minute. Many (or I think you could say ALL) are called, but few are chosen. So the choosing comes AFTER the calling. Do you see? It doesn&rsquo;t say &ldquo;A few are chosen and then called.&rdquo; No. God calls to all men by His grace, by His Seed sown in the heart, by His light that shines in them during his times of visitation. Paul says, &ldquo;because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them&rdquo; (Rom 1:19). But those who reject grace, hide from light, cling to self, etc., these are not the chosen ones. The chosen are only those who give up freely to receive, follow, and obey the grace that comes from above. Or you could say, the elect are those who freely and willingly come to live in and by the ONLY Chosen One of God. These are &ldquo;accepted in the Beloved.&rdquo; (Eph 1:6)There are only TWO BIRTHS in view in the whole reality of what is called predestination. And when men have not seen and felt these two births in themselves, then they always base the doctrine of predestination on something else. But there has always been only one birth&nbsp;that is rejected or reprobate, which is the first birth, the life or nature of the fallen fleshly man, who turned from and died to the life of God. And there has always been only one birth that is chosen or accepted, which is the new birth, or the birth of Christ&rsquo;s life in the soul. God doesn&rsquo;t randomly choose a few wicked people, force them to receive His grace, and pass by the others who are similarly &ldquo;polluted and struggling in their blood.&rdquo; (Ezek. 16:6) No. God offers light and life to all wicked people, and the ones who receive and follow, are those who &ldquo;make their calling and election sure&rdquo; (2 Pet. 1:10).&nbsp;These two births are within us, not outside of us. I mean the distinction between what is chosen and what is condemned is found within each man, and not between one man and another man. These two births are the &ldquo;Jacob&rdquo; that God has loved, and the &ldquo;Esau&rdquo; that God has hated (Mal 1:1-3, Rom 9:13) since the very the time of our fall, when sin was found in the heart of man. The one birth is of the earth, hairy, wild, a hunter after flesh. He desires the inheritance but has squandered his birthright. The other birth is smooth and peaceful, and dwells in the tent. God&rsquo;s election is not arbitrary. Nor is it based on what a man can do or be of himself, in his own &ldquo;willing or running&rdquo; (Rom 9:16). God&rsquo;s election is based upon the birth that reigns in man, or the grace that works in man. I believe it is for this reason that Paul calls it &ldquo;the election of grace.&rdquo; (Rom 11:5). Grace is elected.&nbsp;Man apart from grace&nbsp;is rejected. And every human being who is born of a woman has the opportunity to &ldquo;pass from death into life.&rdquo; (John 5:24)Now, with regard to the verses that you mentioned: Paul indeed says that there was a time when the Father &ldquo;was pleased to reveal His Son in him,&rdquo; (Gal 1:16) but this was NOT just a random selection. I mean, it was not as though God arbitrarily picked a man, and picked a date, and decided to reveal Christ in him. No. Paul was zealously (although blindly and wrongly) seeking to follow His own understanding of Scripture. He had zeal for God, but it was not according to true knowledge. He tells us in Acts 23:1 that even then, when he persecuted the church, he &ldquo;had lived in all good conscience before God until this day.&rdquo; He was ignorant of Christ, but he was trying (with a clean but confused conscience) to give his life and his heart to the Lord, and so God had mercy on Him and opened his eyes.&nbsp;Jesus did say to His disciples, &ldquo;You did not choose Me, but I have chosen you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit.&rdquo; But, first of all, the choice mentioned here doesn&rsquo;t seem to have anything to do with salvation, but is rather a choosing that has to do with their role or ministry, or with &ldquo;going and bearing fruit.&rdquo; But either way, I don&rsquo;t think it is hard to see that His choice of them had to do with what was already at work in their hearts. Nathaniel, for example, was called an &ldquo;Israelite without guile&rdquo; before he was a follower of Christ. Peter, John, James, and Andrew dropped everything immediately in order to follow Christ. These weren&rsquo;t just random wicked sinners that had no inward response to the call of God. They were men who (to some extent at least) had been turning at the reproofs of Wisdom, seeking the Messiah, looking for the salvation of Israel, with hearts that were contrite and teachable. That&rsquo;s why they said, &ldquo;We found Him!&rdquo; They found the one that their hearts were already looking for. &ldquo;We found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote!&rdquo; (John 1:45). That&rsquo;s why, upon seeing his first miracle, Peter had this response: &ldquo;Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!&rdquo; And that&rsquo;s also why these men had already gone out to be baptized by John the Baptist, acknowledging and confessing their sins, and turning their hearts to God.The other verse you mentioned was Ephesians 2:8 &ldquo;For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,&rdquo; This is most certainly true. Salvation is 100% by grace, and not by human effort. But grace can easily be refused, rejected, resisted, grieved, and quenched. Look at what Stephen said to all of the leaders of the Jews, &ldquo;You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.&rdquo; (Act 7:51). Paul talks about many who quench and grieve and frustrate the work of the Holy Spirit, who offers His life and light to man. Salvation is not a work of man, but rather a work of God. But salvation works in man based&nbsp;upon his&nbsp;submission&nbsp;to&nbsp;grace, or his rejection of it. Man has NO power to save Himself. But (as I discuss in a previous <a class="fr-strong" href="https://hender.blog/posts/the-nature-of-mans-freedom" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">blog post</a>), man has complete freedom to choose which power (God&rsquo;s or Satan&rsquo;s) he will subject his heart to. And for this reason Paul was sent &ldquo;to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God&rdquo; (Acts 26:18).I hope this clarifies the issue a little for you. Grace is first; it shines like the sun upon all. Many close their eyes, or turn away from the light, and so remain blind and never produce fruit. These are rejected.... not randomly, but because they resist the Spirit. But all who turn TO the grace, submitting their hearts to the work of grace, these are &ldquo;chosen&rdquo; to bear much fruit, by abiding and growing in the one chosen LIFE that God offers to man.&nbsp;

Who Chooses Who?

[Respuesta a un correo electr&oacute;nico en el que se me preguntaba, &ldquo;&iquest;Qui&eacute;n escoge a qui&eacute;n? &iquest;Escogemos a Dios, o Dios nos escoge a nosotros?&rdquo;]Creo que la respuesta a tu pregunta comienza&nbsp;por entender&nbsp;que la obra de Dios en el hombre, Su llamado, o la siembra de Su semilla, SIEMPRE es anterior a la respuesta u obra del hombre. El hombre, POR S&Iacute; MISMO, no puede escoger a Dios, encontrar a Dios, conocer a Dios, o incluso, creer en Dios con fe verdadera y viva. El hombre, en su condici&oacute;n natural ca&iacute;da est&aacute; &ldquo;muerto en delitos y pecados&rdquo;, es &ldquo;por naturaleza hijo de ira&rdquo;, y se nos dice que &ldquo;el intento del coraz&oacute;n del hombre es malo desde su juventud&rdquo;. Si el Se&ntilde;or nos dejara en esta condici&oacute;n, cada uno de nosotros perecer&iacute;a separado de la gracia. Pero, como nos dice Juan, podemos &ldquo;amarlo, porque &Eacute;l nos am&oacute; primero&rdquo; (1 Juan 4:19). &iquest;Y c&oacute;mo nos am&oacute; Dios primero? &Eacute;l nos am&oacute; al abrir el camino de la redenci&oacute;n a trav&eacute;s de la obra de Cristo, y&nbsp;al&nbsp;sembrar la semilla de Su reino en todo tipo de suelo. Muchos suelos rechazan esta semilla (debido a su dureza, espinas, rocas y malas hierbas), y por eso experimentan poco o nada de su poder. Otros&nbsp;lo&nbsp;experimentan por poco tiempo, pero luego se marchita y languidece r&aacute;pidamente porque su ra&iacute;z no encuentra lugar en sus corazones. Pero la oportunidad est&aacute; ah&iacute; para todos.Creo que la parte que te confunde es que Dios s&oacute;lo &ldquo;escoge&rdquo; a aquellos que responden con humildad a Su gracia, aquellos que mansa y sumisamente se rinden a la obra de Su Esp&iacute;ritu.&nbsp;Si tuviera que tratar de describir el orden, dir&iacute;a algo as&iacute;:&nbsp;La gracia viene primero, tanto como obra de Dios en Cristo, y como don de Cristo en el hombre.&nbsp;DESPU&Eacute;S&nbsp;hay una respuesta del coraz&oacute;n, ya sea para amar Su luz, o para odiarla (y as&iacute; permanecer en la oscuridad). Y&nbsp;DESPU&Eacute;S&nbsp;Dios escoge a todos los que aman la luz, que andan en la luz, y que por ella se despojan de las obras de las tinieblas. O podr&iacute;as decir, Dios &ldquo;escoge&rdquo; a aquellos que se rinden a Su gracia, y as&iacute; encuentran su vida y salvaci&oacute;n en Jesucristo, el Escogido. Por tanto, primero, &ldquo;la gracia de Dios se manifiesta a&nbsp;todos los hombres&rdquo; (Tito 2:11). Primero, Cristo se ofrece a todos, como la &ldquo;luz que ilumina a&nbsp;todo hombre&nbsp;que viene al mundo&rdquo; Juan 1:9. Primero, sale el Sembrador y arroja Su semilla en toda clase de suelo. Pero s&oacute;lo &ldquo;a los que le RECIBEN se les da PODER de SER HECHOS HIJOS DE DIOS&rdquo; (Juan 1:12). No es&nbsp;como si&nbsp;Dios escogiera&nbsp;a unos cuantos rebeldes, malvados, hijos de ira, y decidiera&nbsp;hacerles bien, pero dejara&nbsp;al resto revolc&aacute;ndose en su pecado y ceguera. No. &Eacute;l &ldquo;muri&oacute;&nbsp;por todos&rdquo; (2 Corintios 5:14-15), &ldquo;gust&oacute; la muerte&nbsp;por todos&rdquo; (Hebreos 2:9). &Eacute;l llama &ldquo;a todos&nbsp;los que est&aacute;n trabajados y cargados&rdquo;, y busca &ldquo;atraer&nbsp;a todos&nbsp;a s&iacute; mismo&rdquo; (Juan 12:32), &ldquo;deseando que&nbsp;todos los hombres&nbsp;se salven y lleguen al conocimiento de &Eacute;l&rdquo; (1 Timoteo 2:4), y &ldquo;no quiere que ninguno perezca, sino que&nbsp;todos procedan al arrepentimiento&rdquo; (2 Pedro 3:9). PERO s&oacute;lo aquellos que &ldquo;reciben con mansedumbre la Palabra implantada&rdquo; (Santiago 1:21) son llamados &ldquo;escogidos&rdquo;, porque se vuelven voluntariamente para encontrar su vida y su salvaci&oacute;n en el Hijo unig&eacute;nito de Dios.Es por esta raz&oacute;n que Jes&uacute;s dice: &ldquo;Muchos son los llamados, pero pocos los escogidos&rdquo;. (Mateo 20:16; 22:14) Piensa en esta declaraci&oacute;n por un minuto. Muchos (o creo que se podr&iacute;a decir TODOS) son llamados, pero pocos son escogidos.&nbsp;As&iacute; que, la escogencia&nbsp;o elecci&oacute;n&nbsp;viene DESPU&Eacute;S del llamado. &iquest;Lo ves? No dice: &ldquo;Algunos son escogidos y luego llamados&rdquo;. No. Dios llama a todos los hombres por Su gracia, por Su Semilla sembrada en el coraz&oacute;n, por Su luz que brilla en ellos durante sus tiempos de visitaci&oacute;n. Pablo dice: &ldquo;Porque lo que se conoce acerca de Dios es evidente dentro de ellos, pues Dios se lo hizo evidente.&rdquo; (Romanos 1:19). Pero aquellos que rechazan la gracia, se esconden de la luz, se aferran a s&iacute; mismos, etc., no son los escogidos. Los escogidos son s&oacute;lo aquellos que se entregan libremente a recibir, seguir y obedecer la gracia que viene de lo alto. O se podr&iacute;a decir, los escogidos son aquellos que voluntariamente vienen a vivir en y por el &Uacute;NICO Escogido de Dios.&nbsp;Estos son &ldquo;aceptos en el Amado&rdquo; (Efesios 1:6).S&oacute;lo hay DOS NACIMIENTOS en consideraci&oacute;n, en toda la realidad de lo que se llama predestinaci&oacute;n. Y cuando los hombres no han visto y sentido estos dos nacimientos en s&iacute; mismos, siempre basan la doctrina de la predestinaci&oacute;n en otra cosa. Pero siempre ha habido&nbsp;un solo nacimiento rechazado o reprobado, que es el primer nacimiento, la vida o naturaleza del hombre carnal ca&iacute;do, que se apart&oacute; y muri&oacute; a la vida de Dios. Y siempre ha habido&nbsp;un solo nacimiento escogido o aceptado, que es el nuevo nacimiento, o el nacimiento de la vida de Cristo en el alma. Dios no escoge al azar a unas pocas personas malvadas, las obliga a recibir Su gracia, y pasa por alto a las dem&aacute;s que est&aacute;n igualmente &lsquo;sucias y revolc&aacute;ndose en sus sangres&rsquo;. (Ezequiel 16:6) No. Dios ofrece luz y vida a todos los malvados, y los que reciben y siguen, son los que &ldquo;hacen firme su&nbsp;llamado&nbsp;y elecci&oacute;n&rdquo; (2 Pedro 1:10).Estos dos nacimientos est&aacute;n dentro de nosotros, no fuera de nosotros.&nbsp;Quiero decir,&nbsp;la distinci&oacute;n entre lo que es escogido y lo que es condenado se encuentra dentro de cada hombre, y no entre un hombre y otro hombre. Estos dos nacimientos son el &ldquo;Jacob&rdquo; que Dios am&oacute;, y el &ldquo;Esa&uacute;&rdquo; que Dios aborreci&oacute; (Malaqu&iacute;as 1:1-3; Romanos 9:13), desde el mismo momento de nuestra ca&iacute;da, cuando se hall&oacute; el pecado en el coraz&oacute;n del hombre. Un nacimiento es de la tierra, peludo, salvaje, un cazador&nbsp;de&nbsp;carne. &Eacute;l desea la herencia pero ha desaprovechado su primogenitura. El otro nacimiento es suave y pac&iacute;fico, y habita en la tienda. La elecci&oacute;n de Dios no es arbitraria. Tampoco se basa en lo que un hombre puede hacer o ser por s&iacute; mismo, en su propio &ldquo;querer o correr&rdquo; (Romanos 9:16). La escogencia de Dios se basa en el nacimiento que reina en el hombre, o la gracia que obra en el hombre. Creo que esta es la raz&oacute;n por la que Pablo la llama &ldquo;la elecci&oacute;n de gracia&rdquo; (Romanos 11:5).&nbsp;La gracia es elegida. El hombre sin la gracia es rechazado. Y todo ser humano que nace de una mujer tiene la oportunidad de &ldquo;pasar de muerte a vida&rdquo;&nbsp;(Juan 5:24).Ahora, con respecto a los vers&iacute;culos que mencionaste; Pablo ciertamente dice que hubo un momento en que le &lsquo;agrad&oacute; a Dios revelar a su Hijo en &eacute;l&rsquo; (G&aacute;latas 1:16), pero esta NO fue s&oacute;lo una selecci&oacute;n al azar. Quiero decir, no fue como si Dios hubiera arbitrariamente escogido a un hombre, hubiera escogido una fecha y hubiera decidido revelar a Cristo en &eacute;l. No. Pablo estaba buscando celosamente (aunque a ciegas y equivocadamente) seguir su propio entendimiento de las Escrituras. Ten&iacute;a celo por Dios, pero no seg&uacute;n el verdadero conocimiento. &Eacute;l nos dice en Hechos 23:1, que aun entonces, cuando persegu&iacute;a a la iglesia, &ldquo;he vivido con toda buena conciencia delante de Dios hasta el d&iacute;a de hoy&rdquo;. &Eacute;l no ten&iacute;a conocimiento de Cristo, pero estaba tratando (con una conciencia limpia pero confundida) de entregar su vida y su coraz&oacute;n al Se&ntilde;or, por lo que Dios tuvo misericordia de &eacute;l y le abri&oacute; los ojos.Es cierto que&nbsp;Jes&uacute;s les dijo a sus disc&iacute;pulos: &ldquo;No me elegisteis vosotros a m&iacute;; sino que yo os eleg&iacute; a vosotros; y os he puesto para que vay&aacute;is y llev&eacute;is fruto&rdquo;.&nbsp;Pero, en primer lugar, la elecci&oacute;n mencionada aqu&iacute; no parece tener nada que ver con la salvaci&oacute;n, sino que es m&aacute;s bien una elecci&oacute;n que tiene que ver con el papel o ministerio ellos, o con &quot;ir y llevar fruto&quot;.&nbsp;Pero de cualquier manera,&nbsp;no creo que sea dif&iacute;cil ver que Su elecci&oacute;n de ellos tuvo que ver con lo que ya estaba obrando en sus corazones. Natanael, por ejemplo, fue llamado &ldquo;un verdadero israelita, en quien no hay enga&ntilde;o&rdquo;, antes de ser un seguidor de Cristo. Pedro, Juan, Jacobo y Andr&eacute;s abandonaron todo inmediatamente para seguir a Cristo. Estos no eran s&oacute;lo pecadores malvados al azar, que no ten&iacute;an una respuesta interna al llamado de Dios. Eran hombres que (al menos hasta cierto punto), se hab&iacute;an vuelto a las reprensiones de la Sabidur&iacute;a, buscando al Mes&iacute;as, buscando la salvaci&oacute;n de Israel, con corazones contritos y&nbsp;sensibles. Por eso dijeron: &ldquo;&iexcl;Lo hemos encontrado!&rdquo; Encontraron al que sus corazones ya estaban buscando. &ldquo;&iexcl;Hemos hallado a Aqu&eacute;l de quien escribi&oacute; Mois&eacute;s en la ley, y los profetas!&rdquo; (Juan 1:45) Por eso, al ver&nbsp;Su primer milagro, Pedro dio esta respuesta: &ldquo;&iexcl;Ap&aacute;rtate de m&iacute;, Se&ntilde;or, porque soy hombre pecador!&rdquo; Y por eso tambi&eacute;n, estos hombres ya hab&iacute;an salido a ser bautizados por Juan el Bautista, reconociendo y confesando sus pecados, y volviendo su corazones a Dios.El otro vers&iacute;culo que mencionaste es Efesios 2:8, &ldquo;Porque por gracia sois salvos por medio de la fe, y esto no de vosotros; pues es don de Dios&rdquo;. Esto es verdaderamente cierto. La salvaci&oacute;n es 100% por gracia, y no por esfuerzo humano. Pero la gracia puede ser negada, rechazada, resistida, contristada y apagada. Mira lo que les dijo Esteban a todos los l&iacute;deres de los jud&iacute;os: &ldquo;&iexcl;Duros de cerviz, e incircuncisos de coraz&oacute;n y de o&iacute;dos, vosotros resist&iacute;s siempre al Esp&iacute;ritu Santo; como vuestros padres, as&iacute; tambi&eacute;n vosotros&rdquo; (Hechos 7:51). Pablo habla de muchos que apagan, entristecen y frustran la obra del Esp&iacute;ritu Santo, quien ofrece Su vida y Su luz al hombre.&nbsp;La salvaci&oacute;n no es una obra del hombre, sino una obra de Dios. Pero la salvaci&oacute;n obra en el hombre&nbsp;seg&uacute;n se someta a la gracia o la rechace.&nbsp;El hombre NO tiene poder para salvarse a s&iacute; mismo; pero (como menciono&nbsp;en una&nbsp;<a class="fr-strong" href="https://hender.blog/publicaciones/la-naturaleza-de-la-libertad-del-hombre" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">publicaci&oacute;n anterior</a>&nbsp;en el blog) tiene total libertad para escoger a qu&eacute; poder (el de Dios o el de Satan&aacute;s) someter&aacute; su coraz&oacute;n. Y por eso Pablo fue enviado &lsquo;para&nbsp;volverlos de las tinieblas a la luz, y del poder de Satan&aacute;s a Dios&rsquo; (Hechos 26:18).Espero que esto te aclare un poco el tema. La gracia es primero; brilla como el sol sobre todos. Muchos cierran sus ojos, o se apartan de la luz, y as&iacute; permanecen ciegos y nunca dan fruto. Estos son rechazados... no al azar, sino porque resisten al Esp&iacute;ritu. Pero todos los que se vuelven A la gracia, sometiendo sus corazones a la obra de la gracia, estos son &ldquo;elegidos&rdquo; para dar mucho fruto, al permanecer y crecer en la &uacute;nica VIDA escogida que Dios le ofrece al hombre.

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