Who remembers (or still does) play organised sport at school? And who remembers the infamous “choosing of players” to create teams process?

In case you need a refresher, a coach would often divide their team into two mini teams at weekly practice and nominate two players to act as captains who would take it in turns to name a player for their team. The selected team mate would then walk over to their ‘captain’ and ‘team’, with the process continuing until all players had been allocated.

If you remember this fabulous little process and perhaps weren’t the kind of player that exuded the athletic prowess needed to join an Olympic team, this was often a rather awkward if not painful process. You held your breath or suddenly found the dirt very interesting until you heard your name. You just wanted the humiliation over with!

But hey, maybe that was just my childhood experience.

Praise the Lord Almighty, that His choosing of us is nothing at all like this!

Instead, God’s choosing is intentional, intimate, infinite, perfect and glorious! So deliberate is His desire for you, He has chosen a new way of living, thinking, and being for “this new life of love” which is eloquently expressed in ‘The Message’ version of Colossians 3:12 – 14.

Far from an impromptu (and often forced) selection with all eyes watching and blood pressure rising, God’s choosing of you is no accident or decision made ‘on the fly’.

No, as John 15:16 makes plain, He chose us. He appointed us. Why? To “go and bear fruit - fruit that will last…”.

As inadequate and unworthy as we may feel at times, Ephesians 1:4-5 reminds us that despite of ourselves, He chose us “in Him before the creation of the world”. With great intention and action, God chose us to “be holy and blameless in His sight” and for adoption into His family through Jesus Christ according to “His pleasure and will”.

His love and grace for you is undeserved, unreserved, and unconditional – whether you know this beyond a shadow of a doubt yet or not.

Take a few moments to quiet your mind and heart. When you’re ready, read aloud the following declaration - it captures just a glimmer of God’s endless love and boundless intentions towards you.

“I am chosen for His salvation and service. I am chosen to be obedient and faithful. I am chosen to witness about and bow in worship of Him. I am chosen for righteousness, redemption, and restoration because of His sacrifice. I am chosen to be fruitful and multiply what he has given me. I am chosen for wisdom, understanding, and transformation.

I am chosen to be a living testimony of His goodness and grace. I am chosen for relationship – both now and in eternity. I am to display His love, grace, hope, and joy in a dark world. I am chosen for good works that reflect His kingdom values. I am chosen for His blessings. I am also chosen to suffer and be refined in the process. I am chosen for His glory and good pleasure. I am chosen and called to be holy, set apart, and dearly loved.

Who chose me? God. I am not His back-up choice. I am His precious possession. Nothing and no one will ever change that. Amen.”