Remember those times in school gym class when student team captains got to pick teams? That was one of my worst middle-school nightmares.
Being a non-athlete I had the awkward assurance that I’d be one of the few left shifting my feet and staring at the floor near the end of the choosing session. As soon as the teacher announced captains, I, and other kids like me, would begin to feel the weight of my athletic ineptitude. As I stood there while the kids with skills got picked, I might as well have been wearing a jersey that read “Loser.” The athletically incompetent couldn’t band together. We each stood alone. Admit loser status publicly? Who wants to do that?!
Knowing that I wasn’t going to be wanted no matter which team I ended up on made me want to climb under the bleachers until the period bell released me from purgatory. It was awful.
Maybe gym class wasn’t where you experienced the awkwardness of being unwanted, but you’ve felt the weight. A self-absorbed spouse. A frigid friendship. A comparing parent. A supervisor that prefers the scintillating, but less qualified, co-worker. We’ve all been there. We all know what it feels like to be overlooked, under-appreciated and expendable.
A number of factors in my growing up, gym class among them, led me to identify myself as second choice. Not totally rejected, just not the first pick. No matter what the circumstance, I expected someone else to be the favorite, more important, more wanted. I was the consolation prize.
But that isn’t who I am anymore. Jesus has changed that in me. It’s not who you are either, regardless of what feelings are lingering in the back of your consciousness. If you are a believer in Jesus, you are chosen. He chose you. He chose me. He chose us. Take a minute and really think about it. The God who created the heavens and the earth, who could make anything He wanted, made you. He made you because He wanted you. He wants you still. He wants you to know that you are His first choice. You are not a consolation prize, but you are the jackpot, the grand prize, the treasure. Yes! You!
That’s who you are, dear friend. You are chosen. Let that sink in and see how it changes the way you see yourself and and the world around you. If you and I can fully accept that we are chosen by God, what can hold us back from becoming all that He created us to be? We don’t need to hide under the bleachers. We don’t need to stare at the floor. We can stand and look challenge in the eye. We are not incompetent or inept. We are the chosen children of the King of Heaven. We are His treasure. We can do and be all that He wants us to do and be because we don’t stand alone, afraid to acknowledge who we are. We are His and that is all we need to know.
Chosen. That’s me. And that, my friend, is you!
Key thought: You are chosen.
A Scripture to consider:
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. Ephesians 1:4 NLT
A YES challenge: Take the next week and consider what it means to be chosen by God. How will you remind yourself of this and let it change your perspective?
Prayer:
Chosen? Me? Really? Father, I find it hard to really accept that You chose me. You didn’t just take whatever was left. You wanted me. Help me to live in the knowledge that I am wanted by You and let it transform the way I see myself and the world around me. Amen.