You did not choose me...

When my husband and I found out I was pregnant with twins, we knew we would need a bigger car. So we began looking in car show rooms and online to make sure we chose the right one. One that could fit a certain number of child car-seats, plus all of the baggage and contraptions that come along with babies and older children. Plus room to give someone else a lift!

We chose a seven-seater car that would meet all our requirements. That would do the job we intended it for.

Some people think about religion that way. That we choose, or our parents choose on our behalf, a religion to follow and that’s why we are a Christian. Or perhaps we go out into the world and look at all of our options and then make a choice of which religion suits us best, which concept of God we feel most comfortable with.

Perhaps we feel that we have chosen to become a Christian, we have chosen which God we will believe in and follow.

But in the Gospel of John, Chapter 15, verse 16, God flips this idea on its head.

He says “You did not choose me but I chose you”

He chose us. He is talking about a past decision made. A decision made before you were born. A choice made before you were in the womb, before you emerged into the world, before you had heard about any religion, before you had heard about the huge array of beliefs and ideologies that exist in the world.

God chose you.

When we look at our Faith from the perspective of us having chosen it, it can be easy then to choose how much of it we decide to take on board. How much of it we choose to obey, how much of it we choose to agree with.

We live in a consumer society where we are constantly choosing which brand to buy, which TV station to watch, which news outlet’s spin we choose to believe. If we grow tired of one brand we can try another. There is no need to be loyal when there are so many alternatives to choose from.

We can choose how much of our time and commitment we invest. We have chosen and we can decide how much of ourselves we commit to our choice.

But when we look at what God says in this passage. “You did not choose me but I chose you”. It flips everything around. We are the chosen. We are the ones who have been carefully designed for a purpose.

He says in Ephesians that “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love he predestined us as children through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will.”

In Jeremiah he says: “before I formed you in the womb I knew you and before you were born I consecrated you and appointed you.”

In 2 Timothy Paul explains that God “saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began."

Just as I carefully chose my car to meet a specific purpose and do a specific job: carrying me and my children around safely; God has chosen you for a specific purpose and specific jobs.

However, we are humans, not machines. We have free will.

Once there is fuel in my car and I am behind the wheel, my car has no choice but to be used for my purposes and plans.

God gives us a choice. In this passage He asks us to abide in His loving choice. To accept and act in accordance to His choice. He has chosen us to be His children. Will we act in accordance? Will we agree and live and love in the way we see Jesus living and loving?

He is asking us whether we will accept His choice. Whether we will offer our lives to the purpose for which we were created. Whether we will love our friends, neighbours and even our enemies. Whether we will receive God’s love, and accept His wisdom for how to live our lives.

Each of us has a specific purpose. The people in our lives – our families, work colleagues, neighbours, partners, strangers we encounter, people we pass by and don’t notice – those in our circle of influence are unique to each of us. God has appointed us to be here right now. This year, this time, this moment, in this job, or in this period of retirement or unemployment, in this village, city or town.

He has chosen and appointed us to love. To bear the fruit of love.

The fruit of love isn’t always sweet. Sometimes the fruit will be sour

The fruit of Jesus’ love was death on a cross. It was painful, brutal, and undeserved.

And sometimes the fruit we bear from abiding in God’s love will not be sweet. It will be painful when our loving actions or intentions are misunderstood, rejected or maliciously slandered by the people we are trying to love.

Those times hurt. That fruit is painful to bear.

But we can be encouraged that Jesus suffered in this way and understands how we feel when we suffer the same.

Sometimes the fruit of love will be sweet. Loving someone into new life, sharing the Faith with someone who is broken and lost. Sharing that moment when the truth of God’s word changes the way they see themselves. Encouraging and being encouraged by other brothers and sisters in Christ.

We have been chosen by God. The scripture says “We are God’s masterpiece, He has created us new in Christ, so we can do the good deeds He planned for us long ago.”

He decided to choose you and placed you as you are, where you are, in this time, to do something that only you can do.

You are who God chose to be his child on this earth. To live and love and be His image on this earth, to everyone you encounter.

Will you abide in His choice? Will you say yes to the masterpiece that God has created you to be? Will you act in accordance with His choice that you would be a vessel to receive His love and to continuously pour it out to all around you, both deserving and undeserving?

It doesn’t mean we have to be a punching bag or force ourselves on someone who chooses not to receive this love. Everyone has a choice whether or not to receive and enter into the loving choice that God has given us. But God has chosen us to love regardless, to be children of God, who is Love.

So today, let’s agree to be the chosen. Let’s agree with God’s choice. Giving our lives and hearts completely to Him and walking with Him as He leads us to the people and actions that we have been created for.