But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation...
--2 Thessalonians 2:13
As James Chasteen was distributing Gideon Bibles in a nursing home in New York City, he spotted an old man in a wheelchair.
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The two struck up a conversation, and James asked the man if he was certain of heaven. "I would like to think that I would go to heaven," the man replied with tears, "but I don't think I would. I don't know how, and no one has ever told me how." That day James had the joy of leading this man to Christ; and afterward, he asked him how old he was. The astonishing answer: 100! He would be 101 in another month. 1
Praise God for a man who found Christ at age 100!
Thank goodness most of us don't wait that long. What a joy to know Christ as our Savior today, to be walking with Him, and to be looking forward to life in His Celestial City. We are bound to give thanks to Him who, from the beginning, chose us for salvation.
O Father, we would thank Thee for all Thy love has given, our present joy of sonship, our future joy in Heaven.
Ada R. Greenaway, in Hymns Ancient and Modern, 1904
Recommended Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17
Read through the Bible in a Year: Acts 16:16 - 18:28
1 The Gideon Magazine, June 2009, p. 3.
