Chosen for a reason?

Yesterday I thought about being chosen by God — for no reason, at least not in me. But He does have a reason. He told His disciples:

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. (John 15:16)

There are three reasons in this verse. One is that I will bear fruit. All through the NT, fruit-bearing is defined as a changed life produced by the Holy Spirit and often through discipline. This implies that the person chosen has much that needs changing. That is one reason He picked me. I did and still do need changing.

Second, this fruit abides, continues, endures. It is not incidental but a lasting habit. Habits of any kind are a challenge and take much repetition to form — even with the power of the Holy Spirit behind them. They require learning and relearning. With my selfishness plus attention-deficit, this is the second reason He picked me.

The third reason is so He would be glorified in answered prayer. This does not mean that I am a strong prayer person. Instead, it implies that there is no other reliable virtue or skill in me so I must pray to accomplish anything, not just the fruit of being His child, but all things. I cannot eat or drink to the glory of God, never mind speak His will or fathom His ways without prayer. More and more I realize my helplessness and that helplessness is the third reason He picked me.

Sometimes the Bible seems to put the onus on God’s sheep to do the doing, the fruit producing, making it a habit, and do the praying. Realizing my impotence changes my view. To me, passages like this one are descriptive of those who have been blessed because we are chosen, and are not or have not done anything to become chosen:

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. (John 10:1–5)

Jesus explains that He is the door and we listen to Him. He came to give us life so we could live like His sheep.

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. (Ephesians 1:3–6)

How does this make sense? It is because God knows the ones who are the most qualified to glorify Him; it is the least, not the most likely in our eyes, or His . . . .  

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1 Corinthians 1:25–29)

PRAY: This week is a steep learning curve, yet when You speak to me, dear Jesus, I hear your voice and You change my life. More and more I see my foolishness, weakness, lowliness and lack of wisdom. More and more I see how much I need You and am willing to share with others that anything I accomplish is because of You. Yet I also see, more and more, how much more I must learn.

It’s okay not to be okay

Judges 14; Jeremiah 27; Mark 13; Acts 18

God-appointed leaders are not always the wisest owls in the woods. Judges 14 describes some of Sampson’s antics (he was an Old Testament judge) and proves this NT passage:

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1 Corinthians 1:26–29)

This is a humbling comfort for a couple of reasons. The obvious is that it applies to me. God isn’t interested in the worldly standards that I was raised with. He cares nothing for high IQ’s, rank, prestige, human power, or anything else that I might accomplish or achieve. He picks those who have nothing to boast about, the weak and even those despised by their society. If I want fame and popularity, being a Christian is not the route to take.

Sampson did some silly things. He married outside the faith of his family and against the commands of God. He devised a riddle during his wedding celebrations with a wager and lost it because Philistine the wedding guests threatened his wife with death if she didn’t worm the answer out of him. She wept and whined until he told her, and then he attacked several Philistines to obtain what he needed to pay off his debt. He refused to go back to this wife and she was given to another man.

I can think of a few silly things in my past too. While I’d like to think that God chose me because of my better accomplishments, His Word says otherwise. His choices are not based on anything that I might be proud of but could be on the stuff that makes me blush. This is humbling.

The other reason this story and the NT word about God’s reasoning are comforting is that they explain a lot of what is happening in our world. We have leaders in many countries who think that Christians are the enemy. They overlook the good that is done, schools started, care given and so on and instead persecute God’s people and put many to death. Their view of what is valuable to their nation seems warped to me and in a very real way, the weak and foolish who are chosen by God are a mockery to this so-called wisdom of the world. God used a silly man like Sampson to defeat the enemies of His people. He also can use the weak people who are willing to die for their faith to heap judgment on today’s enemies, even those that seem to do things that please most of the population.

I realize this is a statement hard to understand. For me, it is about God’s value system, not mine and certainly not what the world seems to value. To God, human power and reasoning is full of sin and selfishness. Politicians lie to cover their mistakes, make outrageous claims about their power, and look down their noses at the people God has chosen for His children. In contrast, the people of God whose faith is strong will tell the truth even if it means death, are blessed with God’s strength in our weaknesses, and pray for those who have rejected the One who created them. I am humbled that God has put me into His family, that He did not leave me in that value system where I thought I was somebody when I am not.

In the end of the story, Sampson gave his life to do what God chose him to do. Others have been like him, weak in many areas yet used by God to do mighty things. As my devotional book says, Spirit-given power in one dimension of life does not by itself guarantee Spirit-impelled discipline and maturity in every dimension of life. And this is a humbling reality.

APPLY: Jesus is the vine, my source of all good things. In myself, I can do nothing and am nothing. God’s ways are not my ways yet even in this I can see His wisdom. Pride ruins people. He knows what I need to be humbly aware of my need to rely on Him and abide in Him. I must be glad that He chose me for His reasons and not for any from my old value system.

 

Being on the winning team . . .

We watched the western Canadian semi-final football game yesterday. Our team didn’t win, yet it interests me how sports teams are picked. The owners and team managers do not put the entire world on their roster. They narrow their options by location, skill at the game, and what they can afford to pay them. Using that and other criteria, they select those whom they think would be able to win and then play against the eastern finalist team in the game called the Grey Cup.

God makes choices too, but He has a bigger prize in mind. He sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. This Son would be born to a virgin, but who would be that woman? God narrowed His choice to Israel, a relatively small group, to be His people for that task. While they were given other responsibilities, it was through them the Savior would enter this world. God would also use the Israelites and their history to illustrate redemption, and to set on them His special love. He explains:

 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 7:6–8)

Most of Israel loved to be considered the people of God. Most of them still do. In biblical days, their musicians praised the Lord for what He had done:

“Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing to his name, for it is pleasant! For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession.” (Psalm 135:3–4)

While some of the Jewish people remained true to their calling, not all of them did. However, it was out of this people of God that their Messiah would be born. When He came, God again narrowed His choices. Through Jesus and faith in Him, the people of God are now called Christians. These have become His blessed people, chosen to be holy and blameless, God’s adopted children:

“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.” (Ephesians 1:3–6)

Even though these words speak highly of this ‘team’ that God blesses, it isn’t because we are large, lofty, or mighty. God even says otherwise and explains why:

“For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” (1 Corinthians 1:26–31)

If a football team was selected in the same way, the players would be light-weight weaklings without any skills or track records. Imagine that team in the Grey Cup. It would be the laughing stock of the league and appear totally helpless. If they won, it would not be because they had what it takes but because God produced a miracle in their efforts and their lives. Oh my . . .

^^^^^^^

Jesus, that image spells out what it means to be called as Your child. I have no qualifications to be here or to do Your will. I fall far short. The only way I can accomplish anything is by grace through faith, truly a gift from You — that I might not boast. Blessed be Your holy name!