Am I Chosen?

Imagine, your mother wants to buy a packet of noodles from the grocery shop next door. She will CHOOSE you for this task only after she weighs you with a set of conditions.

Can you walk all alone to the store and come back safe without getting hurt or being lost? Can you handle the money without losing it? Are you capable of finding the exact brand that she needs? Do you know enough math to get the correct balance? Will you get back on time without wandering on the streets? Are you faithful with the money that she gives you? And so on...

If you fulfill most of these criteria, then you QUALIFY and she will be confident to CHOOSE you for the task.

In every field, people are CHOSEN only if they qualify the conditions set for the task. Your ability is weighed and tested and you are chosen based on how well you are able to handle the task. What about God? How does God choose people for His missions / tasks?

Let us open the treasure book and find clues:

OPENING THE TREASURE BOOK

For most important things of life, age is a definite criteria. If you are not of age, you cannot watch certain movies, apply for jobs, get a driving license, get married etc. Similarly, your physique, your abilities, your education, etc., matters in carrying out specific tasks in the world. What about the things of God? Let us look at the people used by God to carry out His missions and see if He also chooses in a similar manner.

Prophet Samuel, King David, Father Abraham, Moses the leader of Israel, Gideon the mighty warrior are few people used by God. Let us see if these were the criteria used for selection.

Samuel as we all know was a prophet of Israel who ministered God’s word to the children of Israel. He was dedicated to God’s service at a very young age and was sent to live in the temple of God after he was weaned. He stayed away from his family and ministered to God under the guidance of priest Eli. God chose to speak to him when he was a child and chose him over the established priest Eli.

David was a shepherd boy taking care of his father’s sheep when he was anointed as a king over Israel. David, a youth was chosen over his elder brothers who were trained soldiers in king Saul’s army. David was still in his youth when he killed the giant Goliath and rescued Israel from the terror of Philistines.

Abraham and his family used to make idols for a living. He was seventy-five years old when God asked him to leave his land and his profession to go to the promised land.

Moses was almost 80 years old when he was sent by God to rescue Israel, from the hands of Pharaoh. He had a stammering issue.

Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites when the angel of the Lord appeared to him. Gideon feared the Midianites and was doing the best to hide his resources from them. His clan was the weakest and He was the least in his father’s house, still God chose him as a rescuer of Israel from Midianites.

God chose a child like Samuel to minister before Him, a youth like David to rescue Israel from Philistines, 75 year old idol maker – Abraham to be Father of God’s chosen people, 80 year old stammering Moses to rescue Israel from the land of Pharaoh, least of the least and fearful Gideon to rescue Israelites from their enemies!!!

So for God, neither age, physique, ability, family status, financial stability, education nor any other quality / talent is a criteria for choosing people for his missions. God chooses people for his missions contrary to how the world chooses.

Our age, physique, abilities, family background, financial stability, education, etc., is not a limiting factor to carry out God’s mission. God does not choose people based on these criteria.

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Judges 16: 6-7

The heart is deceitful above all things. And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.

Jeremiah 17:9-10

For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart is not with you.

Proverbs 23:7

When God looks at a person, he scans his / her Heart. As we already established, God does not choose you based on how you look, or how well toned your body is or how tall and handsome you are or any other material things for that sake. He only scans the heart and searches it to find what it contains. The heart of a person reveals what kind of a person he / she is. The content of the heart gives away the character of a person. It will show whether a person is evil or good, whether he has any secret evil desires, what is the intention behind each of his action and so on.

So God chooses people for his missions based on the content of their heart.

Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.

Ecclesiastes 12:13

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment.

Matthew 22:37

We humans are expected to fear God (hate evil) and be obedient to God by keeping all the commandments given by God. Loving God with all our heart, soul and mind being the first and greatest among them. When we look at all the people used by God we see that they all walked in God’s ways, trusted Him and was obedient to Him keeping His commandments. Some might have even strayed away at times, but they repented and got back on track.

A clean heart that is willing and eager to obey God’s word, no matter how illogical or silly it sounds, fully trusting Him is what God chooses for His missions.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation

2 Corinthians 5:17-18

Humans are sinful and wicked in nature after their fall and slavery into sin. When we accept Jesus Christ as our personal savior, we become a new creation. Our old evil self, indulging in sin and wickedness goes away and we become new creation who are righteous before God through Christ. Our heart is also renewed and do not remain evil, when we are in Christ. We become more christ-like. We are automatically chosen for God’s missions in this case because our hearts and minds are renewed and clean.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16–17

Once we are chosen, God equips us with the required abilities to fulfill the missions we are chosen for. The apostles of Jesus came from different backgrounds – some were well educated and some were not. This did not matter at all for carrying out God’s missions. God used them all for His missions irrespective of their qualifications or their backgrounds or their physique.

The word of God and the Holy Spirit who is inside of us will equip us to face our own challenges and the missions God has in store for us. Let us get on this adventure with Jesus on board.

Treasures uncovered

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for sending us your Son Jesus. Thank you Jesus for reconciling us to the Father and for taking our punishment. We thank you for choosing us for your missions. Thank you Holy Spirit for living inside us and equipping us for all the good work. We love you. In Jesus name, Amen.

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