My cousin Brad used the following illustration while explaining Ephesians 1:4.

When I was a boy my neighbor’s cat came over to my front porch and was relaxing in the sunshine. I reached down and pet him on his belly and he reached up in a split-second and cut me on my face. He made me bleed down the center of my nose into the top of my lip and I tried to kick him but missed. If you (child) went to the SPCA and knew the cat you adopted would cut you like that would you buy it anyway? God would.

Before we knew him, before we believed him, before we wanted to leave our sin, God chose us to be his very own. That is a wonderful thought to ponder today.