I have so much to be thankful for: a wonderful, loving, supportive wife and family, my health, good friends, a warm home, a good job. My cup certainly overflows. More than anything though, I am thankful for a loving, sovereign God that chose me before the foundation of the world. A God that chose me according to the riches of his grace – for his own pleasure – not because of any merit in me. A God that chose me despite my proud and sinful heart, despite my fickleness, despite my arrogance, and despite my sometimes fearful and thankless heart.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
—Ephesians 1:3-14
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
—Ephesians 2:8-10
If I thought that my salvation rested on or depended on my choice, or any merit or goodness in me, I would certainly despair. But it doesn’t – it is all of grace. Our salvation was arranged before the foundation of the universe and brought about by all three members of the Godhead working in concert: the Father planned it, the Son accomplished it, and the Spirit opens our eyes and our hearts to receive the promised blessing. How could one not give thanks for such a loving Savior?