by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
Why wouldn’t I, if I am thinking right? I am “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father<\/em>” (I Peter 1:2). God’s elect are “his own special people<\/em>” (I Peter 2:9). Everyone is not chosen. Many are called, but few are chosen (Matthew 20:16).<\/p>\n If you are among the elect, you have been “sanctified by the Spirit,<\/em>” which means you were set apart from the rest of the world by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit does this through the “truth” He revealed (John 17:17). The gospel is the means by which the Spirit sets us apart from the others (Romans 1:16; I Peter 1:12,22). The obedient believers have been “sprinkled” with the blood of Christ (I Peter 1:2). This is the means of clearing our conscience of the guilt of a sinful past, washing us clean.<\/p>\n Cleansed, sanctified, and obedient people are to God the most special people. He lavishes the elect with “every spiritual blessing in Christ<\/em>” (Ephesians 1:3ff). He adopts us into His family and has a very special “inheritance” reserved for us in heaven (I Peter 1:3-4). Jesus “loved me and gave Himself for me<\/em>” (Galatians 2:20f).<\/p>\n Why would Christians not feel very special if they are thinking right? Are you thinking right?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton Why wouldn’t I, if I am thinking right? I am “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (I Peter 1:2). God’s elect are “his own special people” (I Peter 2:9). Everyone is not chosen. Many are called, but few are chosen (Matthew 20:16). If you are among the elect,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[642],"class_list":["post-96083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-christianity"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31154,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-grandson-wants-to-learn-to-lead-singing-what-do-you-suggest\/","url_meta":{"origin":96083,"position":0},"title":"My grandson wants to learn to lead singing. What do you suggest?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I'm searching for a CD of a capella hymns for my grandson who is attempting to lead the singing at our Wednesday night Bible studies.\u00a0 He has no music training or special talent except that he is very willing.\u00a0 I think the music he could sing along with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27927,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-special-contributions-scriptural\/","url_meta":{"origin":96083,"position":1},"title":"Are special contributions scriptural?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Concerning collections: is it a good practice supported by Scripture to set aside \"Special Giving Days\" for specific purposes on the first day of the week in addition to the regular collection? This practice seems to contradict what a treasury is for in the work of the church. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87136,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-churches-have-a-mothers-day-event\/","url_meta":{"origin":96083,"position":2},"title":"Should churches have a Mother’s Day event?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Should churches have a Mother's Day event? Answer: Why? Where do you find God requiring churches to create special events around secular holidays? After all, Mother's Day in the United States started in 1908 and became an officially recognized day in 1914. It is easy to get caught up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34900,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-difference-between-feeling-guilty-and-feeling-convicted\/","url_meta":{"origin":96083,"position":3},"title":"What is the difference between feeling guilty and feeling convicted?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it true that if you don't know if something is a sin that you should not do it if it makes you feel convicted? So what is the difference between feeling guilty or feeling convicted? Sometimes I put a lot of thought into something that I bought. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24120,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-had-unprotected-sex-with-my-boyfriend-a-few-weeks-ago-and-now-im-not-feeling-well-what-could-be-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":96083,"position":4},"title":"I had unprotected sex with my boyfriend a few weeks ago and now I’m not feeling well. What could be wrong?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi. This the first time I have felt like this. My boyfriend was here a couple of weeks ago and we had unprotected sex. Six days later I started feeling dizzy, not eating a lot, and everything smells bad. I'm not in the mood to do anything and underneath\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26306,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/love-is-a-verb\/","url_meta":{"origin":96083,"position":5},"title":"Love Is a Verb","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wilson Adams \"I don't love my wife like I used to\u2026\" \"Let me guess, you've lost that lovin' feeling?\" \"Yes.\" \"What do you suggest?\" \"Love her.\" \"Love her? That's the problem. I don't love her. The feeling just isn't there.\" \"Then\u2026love her.\" \"Maybe you didn't hear what I said.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/heart-300x168.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96083"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96086,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96083\/revisions\/96086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}