Chosen

"Stop being hateful! Quit trying to fool people, and start being sincere. Don't be jealous or say cruel things about others. Be like newborn babies who are thirsty for the pure spiritual milk that will help you grow and be saved. You have already found out how good the Lord really is. Come to Jesus Christ. He is the living stone that people have rejected, but which God has chosen and highly honored. And now you are living stones that are being used to build a spiritual house. You are also a group of holy priests, and with the help of Jesus Christ you will offer sacrifices that please God."---I Peter 2:1-5 (CEV)

"I have one life and one chance to make it count for something...I'm free to choose what that something is, and the something I've chosen is my faith. Now, my faith goes beyond theology and religion and requires considerable work and effort. My faith demands---this is not optional---my faith demands that I do whatever I can, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to make a difference."---Jimmy Carter

"Don't do what's expected of you. Do what's right for you."---Anonymous

Right: in accordance with what is good, proper, or just; in conformity with fact, reason, truth, or some standard or principle; correct; correct in judgment, opinion, or action; fitting or appropriate; suitable; sound; sane; conforming with or conformable to justice, law, or morality; in good mental or physical health or order

Chosen: selected from several; preferred; to select from a number of possible alternatives; decide on and pick out; having been selected by God; elect; an exclusive group of people; one who, or that which is the object of choice or special favor

Synonyms: elite, exclusive, named, pegged, picked, preferential, select

Don't you just love that Jimmy Carter quote? OK family, If you don't "get" (read, contemplate, study for yourself) any other devotional this year, I pray you will this one. I think it's a message that if we really got it, would free us from a lot of what has been preventing us from receiving all that God has in store for us both collectively and especially individually. (Jeremiah 29:11, Ephesians 3:20)

John 14:6 (NKJV) tells us, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:9 tells us, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father..." For the Christians reading this, those verses should come as nothing new. It is something that we claim as one of the foundations of our faith; that if we want access to God, we must CHOOSE to go through his son. This is what the scriptures tell us...this is what Bible believers build their spiritual lives upon. (2 Timothy 3:16) However, before we go where the Holy Spirit---a spirit who holds a lot more weight than we often give him credit for (Luke 12:10)---has impressed upon me to take this (Luke 12:12), let's get a little more "concrete" poured in.

The Word says that we cannot get to God unless we come to Christ. Now, go back and reread the lead scripture for today. Did you catch the bold sentences? "Come to Jesus Christ. He is the living stone that people have rejected, but which God has chosenand highly honored."

When I say that in this season, reading and really processing that is taking me to a new level in my walk...whew! Christ was REJECTED by people, in spite of the fact that God, the being who created those very people (Genesis 1:26-27), had CHOSEN him. God PREFERRED him. God SELECTED him. God GRANTED HIM SPECIAL FAVOR. And, according to Ecclesiastes 3:14, it's what God does that lasts forever....nothing can be added to or taken from it.

Now bookmark that for a couple of paragraphs.

As I really sat and thought about the word, "chosen", I decided to dig a little deeper to see what else the Word says about God as it relates to who he chooses. There are a couple of scriptures that might surprise you:

"My dear brothers and sisters, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, never think some people are more important than others. Suppose someone comes into your church meeting wearing nice clothes and a gold ring. At the same time a poor person comes in wearing old, dirty clothes. You show special attention to the one wearing nice clothes and say, "Please, sit here in this good seat." But you say to the poor person, 'Stand over there,' or, 'Sit on the floor by my feet.' What are you doing? You are making some people more important than others, and with evil thoughts you are deciding that one person is better. Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! God chose the poor in the world to be rich with faith and to receive the kingdom God promised to those who love him. But you show no respect to the poor. The rich are always trying to control your lives. They are the ones who take you to court. And they are the ones who speak against Jesus, who owns you."---James 2:1-7 (NCV)

Some of us are, what the world (I Corinthians 3:19) considers poor...they REJECT us because of our financial, which often leads to social, status. But have you ever thought about the fact that it may be what God has CHOSEN for you?

"But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and he chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose what the world thinks is unimportant and what the world looks down on and thinks is nothing in order to destroy what the world thinks is important. God did this so that no one can brag in his presence."---I Corinthians 1:27-29 (NCV)

Oh, I really love how the Message Version puts it:

"Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have-right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start-comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That's why we have the saying, "If you're going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God."---I Corinthians 1:26-31

Many of us are overlooked by our culture. We don't "fit in" either because of our looks, our personalities, our jobs, our interests, our relational status or educational background. According to Paul, as a direct result, many of us are exploited, abused and treated as "nobodies". If you feel like you fall into that category, have you ever considered that God may have DELIBERATELY CHOSE you to "bat for that team"...that the purpose of the REJECTION that you're experiencing is so that you can be used to expose the "pretentiously hollow"?

Oh, do you see where we are going with this?!?

The more I desire to know God (James 4:8), the more God, through the help and power of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26), is showing me about Christ and the purpose that he served while on this earth. It is important for all Christ followers to understand that when he came, Christ was very clear that 1) he was chosen and 2) what he was chosen for:

1. "'Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill it.'"---Matthew 5:17 (NKKJV)

2. "'But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'; and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household.'He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.'"---Matthew 10:33-37 (NKJV)

3. "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."---John 1:17 (NKJV)

4. "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief."---I Timothy 1:15 (NKJV)

5. "But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation."---Hebrews 9:11 (NKJV)

Now, did you catch how HUGE his mission was? He came to fulfill the law. He came to get our priorities straight. He came to bring grace and truth. He came to save sinners. He came as a sign of good things to come...and still people rejected him. Yet, if you spend time in the Gospels, you will notice that it doesn't appear to throw him off course. He knew who chose him and what he was chosen for. In his eyes, that's all that really mattered.

I, too, know rejection all too well. But, as I'm maturing in God, I have realized that a big part of the reason why I have let it have the power over me that it has is not because of people...it's because of my lack of acceptance/wisdom/knowledge/discernment/obedience as it relates to my God-ordained, custom-designed, "for such a time as this" purpose. (Ecclesiastes 3:1) As if that's not revelation enough, another thing I see that the Word says is that Christ came to give me abundant life (John 10:10). It was a few months ago that I heard the Holy Spirit say, "So when are you going to start living it? Why are you waiting to get permission from people to have what we, the Godhead, have already promised you....way before you or the people who reject you even got here?" (I know, right?)

Now, let me pause again right there. Another reason why it's good to know what we are chosen for is so that we can have the word "abundant" defined by God for us as it relates to our specific callings. The definition of abundant is not "rich", "famous", "popular", "married", "with children", "a big car or house", "on the cover of magazines or winning awards"...or whatever else the world defines as rich and plentiful. No, to live an abundant life simply means that you are "well supplied" or "abounding" in something. When Christ came to this earth, it is obvious that he was abundant in patience, knowledge, discernment, strength, wisdom, submissiveness, love, confidence, loyalty, long-suffering, self-control, godliness and faith. Just look at the kind of life he led...and how he died. (Matthew 27) He wouldn't have been able to pull it off any other way. But when you read the Message Version of Matthew 10:5-10, it appears that the way he and his CHOSEN disciples lived their day-to-days lives were pretty basic:

"Jesus sent his twelve harvest hands out with this charge: 'Don't begin by traveling to some far-off place to convert unbelievers. And don't try to be dramatic by tackling some public enemy. Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously. Don't think you have to put on a fund-raising campaign before you start. You don't need a lot of equipment. You are the equipment, and all you need to keep that going is three meals a day. Travel light."

Yet does it mean that their lives were any less abundant? Of course not. They were well-supplied and abounding in what they needed to accomplish the task(s) at hand.

Sadly, right now, some of us believe we are prophesying over our lives, when we are actually PROPHE-LYING:

I know God is going to make me a millionaire.

I know I am getting married this year.

I know God is going to give me that new Benz.

I know God is going to bless me with five children.

I know God is going to promote me on my job.

Really? How do you know? Did God tell you so?

A couple of devotionals back ("Meet the Need"), I enclosed some steps on achieving holistic peace. One of them was "When asking someone to do something, check first to see if we are making a request or a demand." How many of us are asking God if what we are "naming and claiming" is according to his will? Romans 8:26-27 tells us that in our praying, the Spirit helps us because the truth is that we don't know what we should pray for...that he searches our hearts and makes intercessions ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD. A real mind-blower for me? When God says that when we seek, we will find; that when we knock, the door will be opened; that when we ask, we shall receive, what we will find, what we will have opened, what we will receive will always be according to his will...AND NOTHING ELSE. As a matter of fact, have you ever caught the tail end of the "ask, seek, find" verses? What it says in the last sentence of that paragraph?

"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"---Luke 11:13 (NKJV)

When we come to God about what we desire (Psalm 37:4), when the Bible says that God will supply all of our needs according to his riches in glory BY CHRIST JESUS (Philippians 4:19), it was a real wake up call for me to realize and then accept that what is granted to me comes after my helper, the Holy Spirit (John 16:7-11), filters my request(s) because he understand my purpose better than I do. It was also deep for me to see that whatever God does give me, he sends through the Holy Spirit, first. (No wonder it's not a good idea to reject him, huh?)

Hmm...I wonder how many times I have asked for a new car, a new house, a husband, some kids, more money, a Essence cover article, certain friends...blah, blah, blah, not gotten it and been thinking it was because God was ignoring/denying me when the truth (John 8:32) may be that he never even heard those requests in the first place because my intercessor thought, "Now, that ain't about to do you a bit of good. God, what Shellie meant to say is grant her daily provision to accomplish what she needs to do today...that would be...(whatever it is the Holy Spirit knows I need because he sees things way ahead of me)."

Man! That puts a whole new spin on I John 5:14-14 (NKJV):

"Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him."

and Psalm 84:11 (NKJV)

"For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly."

If we were to combine and modernize these two verses it might read, "We can be sure that whatever we ask, once the Holy Spirit has corrected our prayers to benefit us in a way that will be according to God's will so that he can grant us our requests, will be granted. God will always give us the good things that will help us continue to live right and remain within our purpose. That, he will never withhold from us."

I don't know about you, but when I look at my requests in this light, I can't help but to see rejection from a different perspective as well because I realize that what I have been seeing as an attack, more times than not, should be received into my human trinity (mind, body and spirit) as a consequence...and oftentimes, a blessing.

First of all, again, Christ was rejected, but it doesn't change the fact that he was chosen. (Really let that one sink in.) We cannot allow people, places, things and ideas to have so much power over us that we forget that he who is in us is greater than all of that (potential) drama. (I John 4:4) I Peter 2:9 says that we are a CHOSEN generation. I once heard a man by the name of Bishop Bismark preach that in God's time line, he chooses who to put where. He threw Moses in a certain period of time for a reason. He threw Joan of Arc in a certain period of time for a reason. He threw Harriet Tubman in a certain period of time for a reason...and now, here you are. It's not a coincidence. HE CHOSE YOU for this time. You are one of God's elect. (Colossians 3:12-13) That makes you special, precious...purposed. Without question, you are chosen...what you should be putting your energies towards is finding out what you have been chosen for. I guarantee that once you know that, the sting of rejection---in whatever form it reveals itself---won't matter so much to you anymore.

Rejected: to refuse to accept, submit to, believe, or make use of; to refuse to recognize or give affection to (a person); to discard as defective or useless; throw away.

When Christ was on this earth, he knew that although his purpose was great, he would be rejected by those who chose not to acknowledge it. (Luke 9:22) I love how Luke 17:24-27 (NKJV) puts it:

"For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all."

Since the beginning of time, rejecting God's people has been an issue. What would make us think that now would be any different? When the Word speaks of being worthy of the kingdom of God and suffering (in the world) because of it (2 Thessalonians 1:5), I wonder why we continue to react in shock and awe when we experience it. The Word says that ALL who desire to live a Godly life will suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). I think that sometimes we can be so melodramatic...we can be so focused on the possibility of running to the hills and going to prison in the last days for our beliefs, that we miss what this is really saying. When someone is persecuted, it means that they suffer loss, pain and/or possibly death, catch this: FOR BELIEVING DIFFERENTLY THAN THEIR PERSECUTOR.

Your "persecutor" could be your parents.

Your "persecutor" could be your spouse.

Your "persecutor" could be your pastor.

Your "persecutor" could be your boss.

Your "persecutor" could be your friends.

The truth of that matter is that any time you stand up for a belief that is contrary to someone else's, death may follow (remember "death" can be simply the end of something), but loss and pain are inevitable. When you are chosen by God, you don't roll the way the rest do. You don't think like they do. You don't talk like they do. You don't look like they do. You don't act like they do. THEY DON'T "GET IT" because the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God...they are foolishness (trifling, insignificant, or paltry) to him. (I Corinthians 2:14) You are of the spirit of God. Don't be surprised when people treat you as being insignificant. The flesh sees things differently. (James 1:22-24)

But you know what? I'm getting to a point where that is OK. You may not find me "useful", you may "refuse to recognize me or give me affection", you may choose to treat me as "defective" or "throw me away"...I am still blessed. I choose (and it is indeed a choice) to no longer be afraid of the threats of what I might lose for being who God appointed me to be because the Bible says that it's better to suffer for doing good than evil. (I Peter 3:14-17) What's suffering for doing evil? That, too, might surprise you:

"If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter."---I Peter 4:14-16 (NKJV)

Do you think that Christ's purpose made sense to the common man? Obviously not. He was constantly challenged by the Pharisees (Matthew 5:20) and denied by his own people (John 18:35). Still, he kept it movin'. Doing what he was put on this earth to do was more important than getting the approval of others for doing it...again, obviously:

"And it's trouble ahead if you're satisfied with yourself. Your self will not satisfy you for long. And it's trouble ahead if you think life's all fun and games. There's suffering to be met, and you're going to meet it. There's trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests-look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular."---Luke 6:25-26 (Message)

Before the year ends, I encourage you to make the time to figure out what God placed you on this earth for...what's your purpose...why he chose you. I PROMISE YOU that if you put real effort into that, so many other things---things that once seemed painful and confusing---will be made clear.

Growing up, I used to have really low self-esteem. As a young adult, no matter how much someone would tell me that I was attractive, it wasn't until my birth parents both told me what they really thought of me, both physically and internally, that I began to see myself as who God had been trying to communicate to me all along. When you receive validation from the people who helped to create you, it does something miraculous. It's almost like, "I don't care if you think I'm ugly...my daddy said I am beautiful."

When you make it a point to spend time with God about your purpose, a huge boost in your internal self-esteem presents itself in a similar fashion..."I don't care if you don't like me...don't understand me...don't accept me...my daddy chose me and he thinks I'm awesome! So what you reject me....I AM CHOSEN."

Chosen by God? I mean, really...life doesn't get any better than that.

Don't worry about the haters. Christ came so that you could live your purpose in abundance.

Do what's right for you and START LIVING IT!

©Shellie R. Warren/2008