08/03/2025
Has God called you to Himself, or is He calling you this morning? By virtue of the fact that you have chosen to read this devotional lesson today I would say He has. Maybe you thought you were choosing Him, but in fact He has chosen you. Does this thought surprise you, or even frighten you?
“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 ESV
Jesus selected His disciples; they were given free rein to say "no", but He picked them. It interests me that there is no account of any that he asked to follow Him who turned the offer down. So why is this so? It is because God had called them long before Jesus said, "follow me." Listen to the words of Jesus...
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, 'And they will all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—”
John 6:44-45 ESV
The Apostles were all chosen, and we have been chosen as well. You might think to yourself "I am unworthy. God would never call me", but my friend, He sees in you the finished work and not who you are when He first convicts your heart. God calls us to Jesus to accomplish His will, and to perfect us in the process.
I have often remarked that God seemed to always pick the most unlikely men and women to become His biblical heroes and heroines. Abram was chosen to receive the blessing of populating the world with his seed... and yet He and his wife Sarai were infertile. Sarai even talked Abram into sleeping with her handmaiden to give him a son. Moses would be asked to lead the Israelites out of captivity, but he was a murderer who couldn't speak well. Tamar married two of Judah's son (both died) before tricking her father-in-law into sleeping with her and being given a child by him. David was a man who couldn't seem to say no to his lust, and even had a husband killed so that he could have this man's wife. If you were interviewing any of these men or women, would you select them for the job of Hero or heroine?
“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; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being[a] might boast in the presence of God.”
1 Corinthians 1:27-29 ESV
When I was a boy, and we would choose sides for a baseball game, we would choose our teammates for many reasons. We would always want our best friend, and then there was John who was a real slugger, and Joey who fielded every ball hit towards him, but at some point the choices became arbitrary as the lesser friends and players were selected. Finally, someone would end up with Bobby. Bobby is the guy who could not walk and chew gum at the same time; he was the one that every fly ball seemed to hit in the nose rather than find his glove. He was always the last picked.
Bobby is a real person. He was a boy in my neighborhood, but today you wouldn't recognize him. He has been a reporter for the Washington Post, and a very successful author and is now a pastor. He has a family, a nice car, and a fine home. Bobby surprised us all. God loves Bobby... I know this because God loved Moses, and David, and Tamar. God picked Bobby, but when everyone else had been picked God didn’t finally kick the dust and say "Dang, not him again!”. So, who are you that God would overlook or be disappointed with you?
Jesus Himself confirms that the Apostles were given to Him by God. It is mentioned several times in the New Testament and was prophesied to happen long before that. Here are the words of Jesus...
“This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: "Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one."”
John 18:9 ESV
You are chosen... you are special in the eyes of God. Revel in this, and as Jesus calls out to you, follow Him. Don’t be disappointed in being selected last… celebrate having been selected at all.
You can say always say no, and as a matter of fact you can change your mind at any point during your journey with Christ. We don't have to look far to find an example... Judas Iscariot should be proof enough of that. He was one of the apostles chosen by Jesus, and yet, he betrayed Him and caused His death. So the fact is, we have no idea why God has chosen us, and we must deal with this mystery every day. Pastor Oswald Chambers spoke of this in a most profound way when he wrote these words...
"We are not taken up into conscious agreement with God's purpose, we are taken up into God's purpose without any consciousness at all. We have no conception of what God is aiming at, and as we go on it gets more and more vague." - Oswald Chambers
If you are thinking " How can I be chosen, or follow Him, because I don't understand Him" well, if you were to understand Him you would be the first. Understanding Him is not a prerequisite for this journey. As God reveals Himself to us bit by bit and asks us to do things for Him, we might think we are beginning to understand Him, but then we are suddenly redirected and it becomes clear that we really didn't know Him that well after all. God's ways are a mystery to us, and we have no way of thinking as He does. Isaiah records God’s words regarding this...
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV
Suffice it to say that God has chosen you, and that He has given you to Jesus Christ. And be satisfied that you are meant to serve the will of the Father just as Jesus has, and that your faith will increase as your journey unfolds. One day you will stand with Jesus before the throne of God to be judged, and if at that moment you are found acceptable through Jesus then despite all of the confusion and doubt you experienced along the way you will be brought into the eternal presence of God and called His child. We don't choose God, we merely choose to believe and follow Him once He has chosen us. What will we say when He calls our name?
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for choosing me when, had I been choosing, I wouldn't not have chosen myself. I thank you for seeing in me some good purpose, and for making me into the man that stands before you now. Holy Father, I ask your forgiveness for doubting your choice. I also ask you to forgive me for the feelings I harbored when I was the last one chosen and became like Bobby on your team... because in the spiritual world I truly am Bobby, and yet you chose me lovingly, joyfully, and with certain expectations. You saw the real Bobby and you saw me in the same way, a way that no one would have predicted... you knew our hearts while we were yet in the womb, and you said... "I pick him!" Praised be your name Father and let all those who are like Bobby and me, those who you have chosen, transformed, and are using to serve you, call out Hallelujah, and rejoice in having been chosen. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who chooses the least to be the greatest, and the last to be first. Holy are you who leaves no doubt that you are great and we are small.
Amen!
“and [Jesus] said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.””
Luke 9:48 ESV
“So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.”
Matthew 20:16 KJV
Rich Forbes