I remember the good ole days in elementary school, those days on the playground or in P.E. class, when team captains would be selected for a game we were going to play. These team captains would then take turns picking their teammates. If you found yourself huddled up in the crowd of kids waiting anxiously to be picked, then there is a good chance you had a few butterflies floating around in your stomach. There was something about standing there wondering if your name was going to be called next that really got your nerves going. Typically, I was amongst the ones still standing till the bitter end…. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that I wasn’t a shining star athlete.
I think back on those times now and smile, but in those moments, my heart always sunk a little. Who wants to be picked last or maybe not even picked at all? Situations like these like to try and seep into our minds, take hold of our hearts, and ultimately strive to have an effect on shaping our identities. We tend to find a certain satisfaction with being picked because associated with being picked is the idea that you have obtained a sense of value and worth. In all honesty, I think more than being picked, the true longing of our hearts is to be chosen.
Truth be told, we will find ourselves in situations like this all throughout life. Sometimes we label these times as “opened or closed doors” or “we just aren’t someone’s cup of tea.” Bottom line though, sometimes we just aren’t picked, and sometimes not being picked is a part of God’s will. (Proverbs 19:21) Nevertheless, not being picked does not equal not being chosen.
To be picked means that you choose someone or something from a number of alternatives. To be choose on the other hand, means to decide that a particular person or thing is the one that you want.
In Ephesians 1:3-6, Paul is emphasizing to those believers that they were lovingly chosen by God. His affections had been fully set on them before time began, with full intentions of making them His own and calling them His sons and daughters. This proclamation that Paul was making was not only for those in Ephesus, but to believers everywhere and believers to come. (1 Thessalonians 2:13) Therefore, we can trust the plans God has for our lives because of the perfect, transcending work that Jesus accomplished on our behalf! God’s plan from the very beginning was to choose us!
As we think on this truth, we can experience true peace, rest, complete fulfillment and joy as we faithfully serve the One who has faithfully chosen us, and chooses us every moment of every day! We are wanted by God! Whether we are picked or not for things of this world, for those of us who are in Christ, it is paramount that we know that we have been chosen before the foundation of the world! God’s choosing is permanent (John 10:28), and His choosing can provide us with all the worth we could ever need!
- A Moment for Hope-filled reflection: How does knowing that God didn’t just pick you, but instead He chose you satisfy the longing of your heart?
- More Moments of Hope:
As believers, those lovingly chosen by God, we have been gifted with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places because of the perfect, complete, and undefeated work of Jesus! That work is our covering and from this work springs forth eternal treasures in heaven that will remain for all of eternity. Life here on Earth is uncertain and temporal, but a life in Christ gives us a perfect position before our perfect God! The things of this world may fade away but it is the mighty word of God that endures forever, and His word says we are tremendously blessed in our eternal home with Him!
Ephesians 1:3-6
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”
Highlighting the hope that we have in Christ! 