“You’ve been chosen…”
Those were the last words I’d wanted to hear out of the judge’s mouth the two times in my life that I was chosen for jury duty. Work and family obligations were more pressing as far as I was concerned. I had no way of knowing if I’d have to sit in one of those boxed seats for seven hours or for seven days. After sitting through the attorneys’ voir dire along with tons of other agitated people, I didn’t escape the unwanted fate. I had no choice but to accept my call and dutifully serve the justice system.
How do I respond when God gives me an assignment? When He chooses ME. Two definitions of the word choose are “to select from a number of possibilities,” or to “pick by preference.” So of everyone in the world He could have chosen to do what He asked you to do, He preferred you. First there was a gentle whisper in your spirit. Then His words began to keep you awake at night. The choice to act rests with you.
Give an encouraging word to the woman in front of you in the grocery store line. Help a friend having car trouble get to work every day even if it’s not on your regular route. Be an example of God’s unconditional love to your testy co-worker even though it will take three years to warm her cold heart. Lay down the world’s pressure for you to be a corporate executive, and pick up your heart’s desire to be a stay-at-home mother or the primary caregiver for your ailing parent. Write books. Evangelize. Start a school of ministry in Cameroon.
God says, “I choose you.”
Seeing that God is omnipotent and omniscient, it would seem we wouldn’t try to negotiate with Him. You know…find a better, more convenient, alternate plan. We carry on as if God hasn’t already figured things out and that instead He’s calling the shots as we go along. So wrong! He already knows the beginning and the end. He is indeed the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), the Alpha and the Omega (Revelation 1:8). And because He knows our expected end, God gives us countless chances to get with His plan.
One particular defendant during a trial for which I was a juror wasn’t offered another chance. Based on the evidence, he was found guilty and sentenced to time in jail. Thankfully God is gracious to give us new mercies every day. God offers us freedom and a life sentence with Him. What a joy to serve! In John 12:26, Jesus says, “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.”
The Bible is full of women who chose to serve by sacrificing their own conveniences. Mary was chosen and consequently consented to conceive the Son of God (Matthew 1). Esther was chosen to save the Jewish people (Esther 8). The Queen of Sheba was chosen to have great wealth, of which she gave in great quantities to Solomon because of his astounding wisdom (1 Kings 10).
And though she was a harlot in Jericho, Rahab concealed the spies sent by Joshua and later gave birth to Boaz, part of the lineage of Jesus (Joshua 2).
What have you been chosen to do? Maybe you should consider it an honor when God calls you to walk with an incorrigible teenager who wants nothing more than to make your life miserable (or so you think). He knows that it’s your love that will transform that future evangelist. Or what about when you’re counting the days when you can resign from your job, but God needs you there because one of your co-workers is experiencing domestic abuse and will come to you for help.
When you’re a child of God, no assignment is too big or too insignificant. It’s not a question of if you’ve been chosen. It’s a question of whether or not you’ll accept and answer the call.
** Devotion taken from If These Shoes Could Talk (2012) by Tia McCollors