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My father is a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I, too, am a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. My son, who recently turned 5, is a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I could, in this article, regale you with tales of great conquests, of four Super Bowl victories in six years, of a fistful of Hall of Famers. But I would be a Steelers fan had those glory years never been. In fact, my father was a fan for more than 30 years before he had a chance to watch the Steelers in a playoff game. And my son likely will never witness a Steeler dynasty and has never seen even a regular-season game on television. But he loves the Steelers because he loves me. If the Steelers never won another game, I would still be a fan.
I love the Steelers for two reasons, neither of which has anything to do with winning. First, my father is a fan, and he taught me to be the same. Second, I was reared just outside Pittsburgh. I love the Steelers not because they were, are, or will be an outstanding football team, but because they belong to me. I have set my love upon them.
When we affirm the doctrine of unconditional election, we are affirming essentially the same line of reasoning. God did not choose you or me because of anything good in us, but because of His love for us, which we do not deserve. That means God discriminates among people, but not on the basis of their character. (This also provides a Biblical explanation as to why I am not crazy for supporting the Steelers.)
Some have sought to avoid this unavoidable conclusion by suggesting that God elects groups of people rather than individuals. They suggest that God did not choose Jacob, Moses, Joshua, or Gideon. Instead He chose the children of Israel. And this somehow gets God off the hook on the whole fairness question.
The trouble with this approach is that it not only does not do justice to the Biblical texts, it doesn’t help solve the non-problem it is trying to solve. Consider the Gibeonites. God did not elect these people. As far as they and the Israelites knew, the Gibeonites were on the “to be destroyed” list. Israel was the called-out nation given the task of destroying them. But why would God not call the Gibeonites to destroy Israel? The Israelites were, in themselves, no better than the Gibeonites. How is fairness protected? God told the Israelites over and over that they were not chosen for their goodness but for His glory. God did not peer down the corridor of time and see faithfulness in the Israelites and so choose them. Some He chose to be a nation of priests, others to be a nation of water-bearers. All for His purposes, all for His glory.
Let God be God. Praise Him that He has chosen us to be kings and queens through His beloved Son.