Picking Teams

My dread was heavy as I entered the gym. I knew it was kickball day in gym class which meant one of my most disliked parts…picking teams.

Since I was not naturally gifted in sports, my name remained one of the last ones chosen each team-picking day. The longer I waited to get picked by one of the team captains, the more I wanted to dig a hole and hide. Once the teams were complete, we would head outside and play kickball. That part was fun and for a while, I would forget that I wasn’t one of the “chosen” players who anchored the winning team.

Although a lot of childhood memories make us feel less than desired, it is when we hit adulthood that the pain of not being selected really hurts. It could be a desired job and they hired someone else. Perhaps you are a writer or a musician, and your work didn’t make it to publication. The university you wanted to attend sent the dreaded non-acceptance letter or you didn’t get the scholarship you needed to make it possible to study there. Perhaps someone you really liked chose to date someone else. The list goes on.

In those instances, we can incorrectly see those situations through a lens of “I’m not good enough”. However, if that is the case, we are not viewing the circumstance through God’s eyes. Those closed doors may be the very actions that are keeping us from walking down the wrong path. As painful as that closed door is today, it may be the redirect we need for something much greater God has in store for us. Or perhaps, we are not ready for that plan yet. We may need to grow or learn a lesson that will prepare us for the desired outcome further in our journey.

Of one thing we can be assured - we are chosen. Ephesians 2:4-5 demonstrates how God chose us, “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will”. What a powerful scripture! I’d like to focus on three aspects of the passage.

1. He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. Think about that…before the world even existed, God looked down through time, saw you, and chose you. That beats any other team ever!!

2. Not only did He choose you, He adopted you. God wants us to be part of His family, so He paid the ultimate price, and we get all the rights of being part of it. Some of those rights include position, connection, and inheritance.

3. This was all done according to the good pleasure of His will. My brain has a hard time grasping that it brought God pleasure to choose me and adopt me. And He did it before I ever had an opportunity to do anything. There is nothing I could do to earn it or to make God change His mind. He saw all that I would be, including my mistakes, and still chose me. How amazing!

The next time a situation or a person makes you feel like you are not good enough, just remember that the God of the universe picked you for His family. You are chosen!