Jesus Picked You for His Team
I can still picture the field in my mind.
There we were, standing in line waiting to be picked for a kickball team. No one wanted to be picked last.
We all wanted to contribute and help our team get the win because that win would secure 6th grade bragging rights… at least until the next game at recess the following day.
The challenge was not trying too hard. Trying too hard often made for a bad kick. The result was usually kicking a foul ball or popping it into the air which led to an easy catch for the out. Neither helped your team toward the win.
Whether it’s on the 6th grade kickball field or in a business conference room, the drive to feel significant is in every one of us.
And it should be. We were created from the beginning to play a significant role in God’s creation.
Genesis 1:28 tells us that after God created the man and woman, He blessed them and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (ESV)
Consider the significance of God’s charge to humanity—to fill and steward His good creation. That’s a big job! Adam and Eve walked with God in the accomplishment of that work until the rebellious sin which caused spiritual separation from their heavenly Father.
We’ve inherited that same spiritual death and separation from our Father. But in losing our life-giving connection with God, we did not lose our God-given desire to be significant.
Instead, our desire for significance got twisted.
Through the influence of the world, the flesh, and the devil, it became entangled with guilt and shame. And the way most people seek to overcome that guilt and shame is through performance and accomplishment. So anytime we feel like we’vefallen short, we try harder. But even great accomplishments do not fulfill this desire for significance.
The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that He chose us for His team and appoints us to a position best suited for how He has designed us. We’ve been given a significant role and responsibility!
In John 15:16, Jesus said, “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.” (ESV)
Notice these words.
“I chose you.” Think about that. God selected you. He picked you out of a lineup (and it wasn’t an eyeroll situation where He had to take you as the only person left!). Ephesians 1:4 tells us that our Heavenly Father chose each one of us to be in Christ and to bear fruit even before the foundation of the world!
“I appointed you.” This means God placed you exactly where He wants you. And this was His doing, not based on your own effort or accomplishment. The same word is used of the man who was lame from birth and ‘placed’ outside the Beautiful Gate of the Temple each day (see Acts 3:2). He could not do that on his own. He was placed there only by someone else’s doing.
At the same time, once placed, each of us has a responsibility. In 1 Corinthians 12:18, the Apostle Paul tells us that God places each one of us right where He wants us in His Body. The rest of that passage explains how every member of the body is significant and plays a part in what God is doing.
Dear Saints, Jesus is the captain of the winning team, and He has chosen YOU to be a member of His team. He knows how He has created you and what purpose He wants you to play. The challenge is not trying to accomplish His charge in our own strength.
Let’s live from this incredible truth of being selected by Jesus and placed exactly where He wants us in the Body. Then, we can go out and bear fruit!