Hey Friend,
At some time we probably have all experienced what it is like not to be chosen. For me, it was often in gym class when pick up teams were being chosen for dodge ball or softball. I knew all too well the dejected feeling of being the consolation pick at the end. I knew I didn't have a very good throwing arm and so did the athletically inclined girls in class.
But, what about the thrill of being chosen? I get super excited if my name is drawn out of the hat for the door prize because I rarely win those types of things. Maybe you know the thrill of being chosen for a team? a date? an award? a job?
I went to a high school with over 3,000 students. I thought, at the time, that the pinnacle of being chosen was to be selected all four years for the cheerleading squad. I practiced hard for those tryouts and I endured the looks (you know the kind) and the catty comments. This was surely what being "chosen" was all about...
That was until I caught on to what being "chosen" was all about in God's vernacular. Worldly choosing is about luck or looks or athletic prowess. God's choosing is based on love. Worldly choosing is based upon competition. God's choosing is based upon being called.
You are chosen by God: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, (Hebrew translation for the word knew is chosen) before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5). God was speaking to Jeremiah. He also is speaking to you and me.
God set His people Israel apart to be His own: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9).
The Bible says that God's choosing is not based on anything we do to earn or deserve His love. He loves us and chooses us to be His own because the very definition of God is love. It's really pure and simple.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28).
Know that the Lord as set apart the godly for himself; the Lord will hear when I call to him. (Psalm 4:3).
God chooses you simply because He IS love and you are the object of His affection. He chooses you to be in relationship with Him...to be the beneficiary of His great love. He chose to send His son to die for you.
The emphasis here is not on the one being chosen, but rather on the One doing the choosing.
In worldly choosing it is the survival of the fittest. In God's economy it is being chosen because the creator of the universe loves YOU that much! He loves you just for being YOU!
While we were yet sinners, God chose to love us. He sets us apart and draws us into Himself and wants to wrap us in His love and whisper to us, "I choose you." I pray that you will welcome being chosen and that you will accept God's gift of unfailing love.
In His love,
Bev
