Chosen

I was reading notes from a trip I took to Israel a couple years ago, and I came across these words that stood out to me more than anything else I read at the time:

"Jesus chose disciples that weren't good enough for other rabbis."

I've always wanted God to use me in big ways, but there's always a small voice in the back of my mind telling me that I'm just not the kind of person that God is going to use. The voice tells me my words from my blogs go unread, my kindness is unrecognized, and the actions that I'm taking are just too small to ever hold a purpose in God's plan. Why would Jesus choose me?

He chose me for the same reason He chose his 12 disciples. He believed in them. He saw potential in them. In the same way, He believes in me, and sees potential in my life even if no one else, or even I myself can see it.

Jesus believes in you.

I often downplay the role that I can play in God's kingdom. Because I tell myself that I'll never be able to do enough to really make a difference.

This isn't how Jesus sees me. Or you. He sees potential. We only tell ourselves we're not good enough because of fear. We only doubt ourselves because we're afraid of what might happen if we fail, or even if we don't fail. Maybe we're afraid that if we let God use us, He'll realize that our mistakes are just too much of a burden for us to ever be useful. God already knows we've made more mistakes than we could ever count.

But God isn’t counting your mistakes; He is counting on you.

He is counting on you to step up, and realize that you've been chosen, despite your past mistakes, your failures, and your shortcomings.

"For consider your calling, brothers; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 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; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are."

1 Corinthians 1:26-28

Jesus chose disciples that weren’t good enough for other rabbis… And Jesus chose you too. Will you listen? Will you act on it? Or will you sit back in fear, and fail to see that Jesus believes in you?