In about an hour I'll be preaching on "adoption" and Ephesians 1. One of the issues that arises from Ephesians 1 is the idea of predestination. Taken to its extreme, the idea is that God chooses who will love Him and who won't. We just live-out what He has already chosen for us. I personally believe that this is a tragic theological error. It's one that I can't fit within the idea of a loving God.

It's interesting how those who support this view (at least all that I've heard) are some of the "chosen ones." Lucky for them, eh?

I do believe that I may not be able to fully understand how all of this plays out, but I do believe that Jesus' story of the Wedding Invitations in Matthew 22 sheds some light for us. The King chose to invite people (so they were chosen). But not everyone accepted the invitation (so they were not "the chosen ones").

Perhaps the word "predistined" is what throws us off. That word literally means "To set boundries in advance." God did certainly set the boundries for choosing to follow Jesus.

Here are some Scriptures that seem to clearly state that God desires all to come to Him, and that anyone can do this through Jesus:
John 14:18-20
Matthew 22:1-14
Luke 13:5
John 3:16-18
Acts 2:38, 17:30
Revelation 22:17.