Do You Want to be Significant?

I can still picture the field in my mind. We were standing in line waiting to be picked for a kickball team. No one wanted to be picked last.  

Each one of us wanted to make a difference. We 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, or putting pressure on your performance, 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 toward the win.  

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—the filling and stewardship over God’s good creation. That’s a big job! They were able to walk with God in the accomplishment of that work until the rebellious sin which caused spiritual separation from their heavenly Father.  

We inherited that spiritual death, separation from the Father, but in losing that connection of life with God, we did not lose the desire to be significant. Unfortunately, through the twisting of the world, the flesh, and the devil, our desire and ability to be significant turned into guilt and shame. And the way most people seek to overcome that guilt and shame is through performance and accomplishment.  

But, even great accomplishment does not fulfill the desire.  

One aspect of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that He secured the win, chose us for His team and appoints us to a position best suited for how He has designed us.  

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 those 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 was put in place!

“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.  

If we trust that our Heavenly Father has chosen and appointed us in Christ, then we will recognize that we have been given a significant role and responsibility. He knows how He has created us and what purpose He wants us to play.  

Dear Saints, Jesus is the captain of the winning team. He has won the victory through his death and resurrection.  He has chosen you and appointed you to be a significant, contributing member of the team.  One of the challenges we face is not trying to accomplish His charge in our own strength.  

Let’s live from the truth of being selected by Jesus and placed exactly where He wants us in the Body. Then, we can walk with him and go out and bear fruit!