Chosen

  

We sometimes think of God as the creator, and we should. We see him with our mind’s eye, creating planets, placing them in their precision orbits, and flinging the stars in their constellations. However, we forget that before he made one bit of cosmic dust, he created relationships between you and him and between him and me. That’s right! Before the foundation of the earth, he chose you to be his son or daughter.

Let that sink in today—the fact that God chose you! You were chosen for himself, his pleasure, and his will. Your life is not an accident. You’re not on this earth by mere circumstances but by divine choice. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight” (Eph 1:4). The choosing was before time ever existed “before the creation of the world.” choosing was before human existence!

Have you ever been passed over? Have you ever had to stand and wait while the team is being chosen? The best players are being picked, and you are obviously not wanted. Finally, there is a huddle between the captains and maybe a trade-off. We take him, but we get to go first. The reasons for God’s choosing were only in himself. The grounds of God’s choice are his love and good pleasure, not man’s or woman’s goodness.

Stephanie Fast was an orphan raised on the streets of Seoul, Korea, following the Korean War. She was abused by men and had to live much like an animal. To survive, she often ate rodents and insects. Sometimes, she would stare from her dark hiding place at the American soldiers as they passed by and ask herself,” Which one is my father?”

At seven, she was taken into a World Vision Orphanage. Once a week, all the babies were prettied up, and they waited for visitors to come and make their choice of a child. Stephanie knew no one would ever want her; people want babies, not half-grown kids. In walked a big man and his wife. What appeared so strange was that he did not go to the row of babies but stopped and looked at Stephanie. He bent down and put his hands around her. Stephanie spit in his face, not displaying her emotions or knowing how to respond to affection. He simply wiped the spit off and said to his wife, “This is the one.” He took her home and gave her a new home, name, and life.

Such was the case with our heavenly Father, who chose us. We spit in his face; Isaiah said it like this, “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted, (Isaiah 53:4).” Yet he said, “This is the one!”

 

 

Holding Hands

 

Psalm twenty-three presents us with a picture of God’s love and care for us in the image of a Good Shepherd. David says, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever” (Ps 23:5-6).

We get the impression that David has been fleeing his enemies and just arrived at the encampment of friends. Now half-starved, he finds a table bountifully set before him. His host’s hospitality is reflected in the act of pouring oil upon his head to refresh him. It is a scene of relief and security.

When I was a teenager, my father, brother, and I had been working in the fields well before dawn when my mother showed up and set the table before us on the hood of one of the trucks. She served us grape juice and boiled eggs. It was a feast to behold for us.

Instead of being chased by enemies, David is pursued by goodness and kindness. What a beautiful pursuit to have goodness and kindness following you everywhere you go. David concludes this psalm with: “And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever,” emphasizing that this relationship with his shepherd is eternal and will never end.

In John chapter 10, Jesus used the illustration of the Good Shepherd to help us understand how safe we are in his care: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:27-30).

 Did you notice the part about “no one will snatch them out of my hand? Small children delight in the parent holding their hand. Recently, my granddaughter Madelyn was in my office playing store. She sold me everything in sight. I think her price index must have been connected to the national inflation rate because she charged me $60 for a hamburger and coke. I told her that was kind of high, but she responded, “It is a really good burger.” Later, she said we just got a shipment of new books in if you would like one. She then showed me one of my books on Responsive Parenting with the picture of a dad holding his little son’s hand. I asked her, “What is the book about?” She replied, “It’s about learning to hold hands.” I have been thinking about it, and that is not bad. For some families learning how to hold hands would be a giant step toward improving their family relationships.

This is what Psalm 23 is speaking to us. It’s about Jesus holding our hand and walking with us through the dark places of our life. Jesus’s hand is wrapped around ours, and the Father’s hand is wrapped around both hands to be doubly safe. Our safety depends not on our immature, futile grip upon him but his hold on us.

Be Yourself

 

Learning to be yourself is quite an accomplishment in a world where there is so much pressure to be someone you are not. Some people are pressured to be one way because they want the approval of certain people. Others try to be someone who will impress, so they garner praise. Still, others try to be someone else because they don’t like who they are. Whatever the reason being, anyone but our true self will eventually bring us disappointment.

I believe the first step to being yourself is to find out who God is. How could I, the creature, have any idea who I am if I don’t know my creator. Knowing God changes everything about me. It gives me value both now and for eternity. Knowing God gives me purpose because he has ordained my path. David wrote, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalms 139:13-16). Those words describe the purpose and value that come from God.

The second challenge is accepting who you are. This is big, and it will change your life. This is who I am, and I am thankful for my gifts, and I don’t have to envy another for his gifts. There are things I can’t do, but I will focus on what I can do. There are things I cannot be, but I will focus on what I can be. Accepting myself takes away the rivalry and allows me to appreciate my life and those God has placed in my path.

The final step is being who we are. Here is the challenge because there are reasons to be someone else, but I am determined to be just me. This includes being me at work, school, home, and church—there will not be any place that I forfeit my originality.

When we find out who God is, accept ourselves and determine to be ourselves, we have the greatest possibility of enjoying life, family, and ministry. We have the best chance of inspiring people with our sincerity. Learning to accept that some people will not like us is inevitable, but most people will, and most of all, God will always be pleased we have chosen to be who he made us to be.

A Lesson from the Tower of Babel

We all have a desire to be known; God gave it to us. That desire is so strong that if it is not directed toward God, it can be much abused. If we pursue that desire without regard to our maker and those around us, we will cross a critical boundary that will harm us. When, however, we seek God and make him the object of our affections and ambitions, we can fulfill that desire to be known. Just to be known by God is the greatest gift in life. It is through this intimacy that we find purpose and meaning in life. Paul states this for us in these words: “The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God” (1 Cor 8:2-3).

In the book of Genesis, the people attempted to build a tower that reached the heavens. The problem with the tower was what it represented for the originators. Its builders saw God like other gods. The tower itself was their god, one they could control. This is the weakness of human religion—the desire for self-advancement. By our good works, we believe we can make ourselves more holy. This is the delusion of every religion in the world except for Christianity. The Gospel teaches us that we are saved by grace through faith and not of our works.

The builders of the tower were also driven by the ambition of making a name for themselves. This force drives people of every walk of life to be known. Some people will endure shame or disgrace for the opportunity to make a name—even if it is momentary. This drive to make a name for ourselves can cause us to lose our integrity and compromise our values. The desire to make a name for ourselves drives us to lie to exalt ourselves, to imitate others that we admire, assume a different identity, and worst of all to seek our own glory.

In the book of Jeremiah, we are told that seeking our glory is not a good idea, “Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not.” (Jer 45:5). This is similar to Jesus’ words to us: “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35).

The tower of Babel ended in confusion and chaos because the people tried to displace God. When we forget God or attempt to replace him with our own creations, we invite chaos and disaster. The best way to enjoy life and find the highest meaning here on this planet is to love God and be known by Him.

The Other Lost Son

In Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son, the two sons are much more alike than it really appears. The younger son had sought to find a way to get out from the under the control of his father, but is that not what the older son has also done? They both had been defiant, rebellious and self-serving in their own ways. They both had a blurred view of their father and were trying to use him to their own ends.

Both were away from their father. Both had to be invited to the feast. One traveled far from the father, and the other stayed home but traveled in his heart. Augustine wrote: "For it is not by our feet, nor by change of place, that we either turn from Thee or to Thee ... in darkened affections, lies (the) distance from Thy face" (Confessions, 1.28).^[i]

Timothy Keller in the The Prodigal God writes: “Why doesn’t the elder brother go in? He himself gives the reason: ‘Because I’ve never disobeyed you.’ The elder brother is not losing the father’s love in spite of his goodness, but because of it. It is not his sins that create the barrier between him and his father, it’s the pride he has in his moral record; it’s not his wrongdoing but his righteousness that is keeping him from sharing in the feast of this father.” ^[ii]

The older brother was angry because his brother was back and accepted as a brother. That wasn’t fair because he had already spent his share of the inheritance and now he was supposedly being made a rightful heir to another share. Where is the fairness in that? Resentment is a form of anger. Find your resentment, and you will find the source of your anger. The older son’s words are full of resentment at others and even at his father. He feels cheated and betrayed, and he is hurt.

For the older brother life had become a monotony. He was resentful of his brother for leaving with his inheritance which he never earned. Then the gall to come and ask for more. He was resentful of his father for allowing himself to be taken advantage of by his no-good brother. He resented his father for not rewarding him as he believed he deserved to be rewarded. 

Both sons really wanted the same thing; they just went about in different ways. The younger wanted his inheritance before he was due to receive it. The older also wanted the father’s goods instead of his father’s love.

Are you unhappy with God the way the older son was? Has God been unfair to you? The real point of the story is the Father’s love. Are we away from the Father? It really doesn’t matter if you did it the way the younger did or as the older son did it. The point is to come back to the Father.

This is really what this story is about. It is whether or not we will really see our own need and come to the Father because we love him for who he is. Love the Giver of miracles not the miracle. Love the Provider not the bread on your table. Love the Giver of gifts not the gift. This is the question worth considering, will you pursue God for who he is not for what he has to give you?

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[i] R. Kent Hughes, Luke, Volume Two, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL 1998, P. 144.

[ii] Timothy Keller, The Prodigal God, Dutton, England 2008, P. 35.