I’ll have to interject here. We are saved by grace through faith. We aren’t saved through election. I’m not sure if that’s what you are saying, specifically. But that’s what it sounds like.
It is interesting that, when His disciples realized Jesus
was teaching salvation by election... many of them
immediately abandoned Him [John 6:65-66]
Now, WHY in the world would anyone abandon the Son of God?
And, of course the answer is obvious: they (like most men today)
did not WANT a salvation plan where God was Sovereign and
Autonomous - choosing or electing who He would save before
the foundation of the world (based ONLY on His Good Pleasure
and not on anything that person would do in their lifetime).
Instead, they (like most people today) want to "
be like God"
and initiate their salvation by doing some good "work" like
saying a sinner's prayer or making an alter call or receiving
water baptism or repenting of some sins or "inviting" Jesus
into their hearts or DECIDING to "believe" (before regeneration).
Those who God has "elected" take great comfort knowing
that they had no part in being saved, that it was entirely of
God's Good Purpose. Those who are not "elected" cannot
handle the idea that salvation is entirely dependent on who
GOD "elects" to have mercy and there is NOTHING they can
do to save themselves.
And so they design schemes where they do some "work"
and God SEES the good work they have done and He is
then OBLIGATED to save them.
Of course, the more sophisticated use the term "non-meritorious"
before the WORK done to secure their salvation. This way they
can pretend their work was not REALLY a "work" at all...
of course they are only pretending to themselves.
Jim