"You did not choose me..."

Do you remember those days on the school playground when kids grouped up and picked teams to play games? It started by picking two captains who would choose the teams. Then, they picked players one at a time, hoping to get the best ones on their side. There were always a few left who got picked last due to their limited skills. I was never that kid but I can imagine it was a painful experience for them.

We pick people on the playground by their skills and ability to help us win. That is not how Christ picks us, though. He has a much different perspective than we do. Reading David Platt's book, Follow Me, he talks about the fishermen that Jesus chose in Matthew 4:18-22. Here is an exert from chapter 2, page 36:

Jesus is not calling these disciples because of who they are, but in spite of who they are. They do not have many qualities in their favor. They are lower class, rural, uneducated Galileans. Likely not well respected, they are hardly the cultural elite. Moreover, their exceeding ignorance, narrow minded ways, Jewish prejudices, and competitive pride make them the least spiritually qualified for the task to which Jesus is calling them.

But that is the point. These men decidedly do not warrant Jesus' pursuit. Yet he comes to them. He walks up to them in the middle of their work, and he invites them to follow him. Later he tells them, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you." These men become disciples of Jesus solely because of the initiative - and invitation - of Christ.

I have often wondered, "Why did God choose me to become a believer when I feel like such a wreck?" I have sinned so terribly, yet He keeps working in my life and being faithful. Though He has disciplined me and "sifted" me, His love continues. That's because it's initiated by Him and His love, not my merit or worthiness. That's hard to grasp some days, especially on those low days where I feel the weight of my sin or have feelings of inadequacy.

The gospel message is truly amazing. It should never get old, even to us as believers. When we go all the way back to Genesis 1 and see God say, "Let us make man...", that is intriguing. He lacked nothing and had perfect fellowship with His Son and the Holy Spirit. Why bring man into the equation? It wasn't out of boredom or need. He WANTED us to share in His life, and to share His life with us.

David Platt says more about this on page 29 of his book, Follow Me:

The reality of the gospel is that we do not become God's children ultimately because of initiative in us, and he does not provide salvation primarily because of an invitation from us. Instead, before we were ever born, God was working to adopt us. While we were lying alone in the depth of our sin, God was planning to save us. And the only way we can become part of the family of God is through a love entirely beyond our imagination and completely out of our control. Christianity does not begin with our pursuit of Christ, but with Christ's pursuit of us. Christianity does not start with an invitation we offer to Jesus, but with an invitation Jesus offers to us.

If you or I ever start to feel down and depressed, then remembering the gospel message is crucial. God chose you and me LONG before we were ever born. He didn't choose us based on our behavior, attitude, appearance, or what we can do for Him. He doesn't need us but WANTS us. Salvation began with Him before the world was ever created. He chose us for adoption as sons and daughters!

Since He chose us to be in His family, then that must mean He loves us and has great things in store for us, here on Earth and eternally in Heaven. Therefore, life never is without purpose. Making Him our pursuit and His purposes give us joy and hope beyond all else. No matter how great things are or how terrible, His love remains. He is faithful even when we are not. He will never forsake us. Nothing or no one in this world can offer such a promise.

Romans 8:38-39 - The Message (MSG)

^31-39 So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:

They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.

None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.