StefanM said:
Eph 1:3 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,
Eph 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
Eph 1:5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
Eph 1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
(ESV)
I am a child of God because God lovingly bestowed mercy on me, choosing me despite my sinfulness, before the foundation of the world.
I was going to post those verses as well, but from a different viewpoint.
We are chosen. But we are chosen
"in Him". God did not sit in heaven, before He created anything, and say, "I choose Stefan to be saved and I will pass over Stefan's neighbor and he will go to hell."
We have been chosen
in Him before the foundation of the world because
Christ was chosen, annointed, to be the Savior of the world. We are in Him through our
faith. We were predestined
through Him. All those who put their faith in Christ will receive life (because
He did), go to the Father (because
He did), receive the inheritance (because
He did). We receive these things because we are
in Him. We become Christ's (or, in Him) by faith. That is why we are the elect, because Christ is the elect.
All who put their faith in Christ are the elect.