The tension remains

Scripture Read: Romans 11:22-27 Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? 25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.” 27 “This is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”

Application: I praise You God for Your Word – We can see clearly in this passage again that free will does come into play. You are not a God of games – Your offers are valid and real. When You say that there is choice if we are honest with Your Word we must accept that no matter how we have tried to develop our own system of theology to try and explain that which is so difficult to understand. If we are honest stewards of Your Word we also know that Your sovereignty remains and election is part of that – we do not understand it – yet it is clear that choice is in that formula. We will let You be concerned with all that Oh lord – we ask You to help us to just take our choices seriously and leave the rest to You. We know that You are so far above what we can understand – thanks for letting us in on some of Your greatness. We love You Dad!!