He Chose Me!

I can still remember the feeling in my gut when we would get together as kids to play a team sport. Captains would be selected. Then came the chosing of teams. I was generally a fairly-early draft choice. But being that I could never shoot well, I would usually be one of the last chosen for basketball.

It's like it was yesterday. Eyes fixed on the ground. Glancing up every once in a while to see who was still left. "Surely I'll get picked before Chuck." Next pick: Chuck. Argh!

Luke's account of the chosing of the 12 apostles is interesting. Luke says that one morning, Jesus called his disciples together. I wonder how many people were there? Luke doesn't tell us. But from that group, Jesus picks 12 of them to be "designated apostles" (Luke 6: 13).

I wonder how it felt to be in love with Jesus and ready to follow him, but not to have been picked. I wonder if anyone pouted and left him because he had "slighted" them. I wonder if any feelings were hurt that day.

But on the other side of the coin, think what it felt like for those 12 who were chosen. They must have felt wonderful. Of course, they had no idea what being chosen would end up costing them. Yet in the glow of the moment, WOW!

And consider as Jesus made his selections. They are listed for us in Luke 6: 14-16. When it came to that #12 pick, Jesus looked over those who were left and his eyes settled on Judas Iscariot. Would Julius Caesar have picked Brutus to be his right-hand man had he known the future? Surely not. But Jesus knew the future. Yet he picked the man who would betray him -- and for three years, treated him with all of the kindness and respect that he did the others.

For those who are in Christ, listen to Paul's words in Ephesians 1: 3-5: "he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight . . . adopted as his sons." Chosen! It's a wonderful feeling!