A Chosen People

Everybody wants to fit in and be what you want to be. The sky is the the limit. The choice is yours.

The corner lots was like paradise to a bunch of baseball fans. A gravel yard filled with cinders, cardboard bases, splintered baseball bats, and tattered baseballs. Whatever worked was the name of the game. Nothing could be better and it was fun.

Like the little rascals we gathered with friends on a corner lot to play baseball. After the usual chitchat we got down to business and chose sides.

Two guys tossed a baseball bat to the other while one of them caught it with a bare fist. Then one by one a fist climbed over the other until one fist reached the top and chose first while the boys anxouisly waited to learn which team they will be on.

I trembled with all the guys. I was always chosen last like left over meat. I wasn’t the most popular boy on the team. But I loved to play baseball, anyway. To me it didn’t matter what my friends thought.

Did you know that you are chosen? Maybe in elementary school you were the last one selected for a team. You may still feel the sting of being passed over by the team captain. But today’s message confirms that you have been chosen by God Himself!

God chose Abraham early in biblical history (see Gen. 12). But his descandants did not become a choice nation until they recived the Law at Mount Sinai (Ex. 19:1–8). God promised “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.”

The church is also “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession.” (v. 9) This means we’re called to faithfulness and obedience. We’re destined for a joyful eternity with Him.

It’s encouraging to learn what side of the fence we belong on and how to get there. God is good and we can enjoy life in Christ. Amen.