If God's grace has truly entered our hearts, it has had one undeniable effect: it has made us God's servants. We may be unfaithful servants. We are certainly unprofitable ones. But blessed be his name, we are his servants! We wear his livery, we feed at his table, we obey his commands. Once we were slaves to sin, but the One who set us free has now brought us into his family and taught us to obey his will.

We don't serve our Master perfectly. But we would if we could! When we hear God's voice saying to us, "You are my servant," we can answer with David: "I am your servant; you have loosed my bonds."

But the Lord calls us not only his servants, but his chosen ones—"I have chosen you." We did not choose him first. He chose us. If we are God's servants today, remember: we were not always so. This change must be ascribed to sovereign grace alone! The eye of sovereignty singled us out. The voice of unchanging grace declared, "I have loved you with an everlasting love."

Long before time began, before space was created, God had already written the names of his elect people on his heart. He had already predestined them to be conformed to the image of his Son. He had already ordained them heirs of all the fullness of his love, his grace, and his glory.

What comfort is here! Has the Lord loved us this long only to cast us away now? He knew how stiff-necked we would be. He understood that our hearts were evil. And yet he made the choice.

Ah! Our Savior is no fickle lover. He does not feel enchanted for a while with some gleams of beauty from his church's eye, then afterwards cast her off because of her unfaithfulness. No! He married her in old eternity. And it is written of Jehovah: "He hates putting away." His eternal choice creates a bond—upon our gratitude and upon his faithfulness—which neither can disown.