On Choosing vs. Chosen

Suppose we first loved him so as to merit his love in return. Then wouldn’t we first choose him so as to merit our being chosen by him? But he who is Truth itself says otherwise and openly contradicts such human vanity by declaring, “You have not chosen me.” Consequently, if it is not you who have chosen, then it is certainly not you who have loved; for how could they choose him whom they did not love? “But it is I,” he says, “who have chosen you.” And how could they possibly fail to choose him afterward or fail to prefer him to all the goods of this world? It was because they were chosen that they chose him. They were not chosen because they had chosen him. —St. Augustine, GRACE AND FREE WILL 38.30

Or, as we sing:

Lord, ‘tis not that I did choose Thee; That, I know, could never be; For this heart would still refuse Thee Had Thy grace not chosen me. Thou hast from the sins that stained me Washed and cleansed and set me free And unto this end ordained me, That I ever live to Thee. (LSB 573:1)