Chosen

Written by Joy Gilman

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light."

1Peter 2:9 NIV

I stood in line for hours. My arms felt heavy as they clutched my weighty portfolio. Its pages represented years of striving, self-promotion, and fruitless struggle. I was a fashion model and I was at the end of my rope. I was waiting in line with hundreds of other models and "model-hopefuls" to meet one of the most powerful women in the fashion industry at that time. She was the owner of one of the most premier modeling agencies in New York City and she had come to my home town to scout new talent. I stood in line to meet her with the desperate dream of being chosen. I wish I could tell you that I was selected that day but quite the opposite occurred. The most powerful woman in fashion looked me square in the face and told me I would "never make it" as a model. I was simply too short. In the fashion world, five-foot-seven and a half inches tall was a deal breaker. Five-foot-nine was the gold standard and I didn't measure up.

Many of us can share a story or two when we were not noticed, not selected, even rejected. Maybe it was a team you were striving to make and you invested copious hours of time training and perfecting your skill but the coach didn't see the potential you possessed. Maybe it was a key job opportunity that seemed to describe you to a T but the employer saw things differently. Or maybe it was a relationship with a person you thought was finally "the one" but for whatever reason that person didn't feel the same connection you felt and stopped returning your calls. Not being chosen for something we've worked for, fought for, longed for is painful.

Thankfully when it comes to being chosen by God, things are different. There are no earthly qualifications that can make us "good enough." Jesus has already taken care of that. Jesus is the great qualifier. Jesus is the great perfector. It is only because of Jesus being enough that I can be chosen. And so can you.

Recommended reading:

Ephesians 2

Romans 3:21-31

Philippians 3:1-11