2 Timothy 1:9
[God] saved us and called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of our works, but in virtue of His own purpose and the grace which He gave us in Christ Jesus ages ago.
One thing that is just a bit hard to take in is the fact that God’s providence is one, single, unified, creative and redemptive act which encompasses all of space and time. Nothing — absolutely nothing — happens apart from God’s providential ordering of creation. Thus, you and I were given grace in Christ Jesus “ages ago” because God knows, in the Eternal Now of His existence, who we are and what we choose and orders the universe to our salvation accordingly. Nobody understands this except God. But we all benefit from it because, in Christ Jesus, the grace of God is, so to speak the “environment” in which we live and move. It precedes us and surrounds us and calls us. Today, answer that call.
