Encouragement

I Choose You

by Brandon Braddy
08/04/23
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Isaiah 43:1 (Kjv)
1 Corinthians 1: 26-31 (Kjv)
Romans 4: 17 (Kjv)
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.... Ephesians 1: 4 (Kjv)

    From the time when I was very young and on through the years, including my P.E classes at school, and such similar athletic classes, I was the last to be chosen on the team. Now you know there is prejudice involved when you and a group of people around your age are ready to play a game of basketball, or similar game, and you have two main players of the game who are called captains, and these two captains point a finger at each person, and say that person's name, this is what I would call the elimination process, until someone, and that someone was always me, would be picked, chosen last, as if they were spare goods, not the pick of the litter, but the last to be chosen, as if they were only a spare crutch to lean on if needed, for a last resort. Now when this process of selection was happening, I wanted to be chosen first, I wanted to show what I thought I could do, but instead I held inside of me hope to be chosen first, a hope that every time was shattered, needless to say, I never was the captain on a team, and I never remember being chosen first by one of those captains. But to this day, I hold no roots of bitterness or unforgiveness in my heart toward the reality of being chosen as the very last, because now I finally have realized the reason I was never chosen first, but was saved for the very bottom of the barrel, so to speak, as the last to be chosen. And it was not because everyone hated me or did not like me, it was not even because the two captains hated or did not like me, it had nothing to do with my southern accent, or any other natural trait of mine, but it was because I was not the most athletic, I was not good at the game as some other people were, so I could not blame anyone, not even myself, I was just not made to be a basketball player, or an athletic person in any sport really, I never have been the most athletic type. And though I tell you this intimate and funny story and small piece of the portrait of my life, I share this to illustrate a great and amazing truth, such a truth that reaches to the many people in this world, that reaches to you who may be reading this, and to myself. This wonderful reality, is one that has to do with Jesus, and has nothing to do with us, who we are, our abilities, or anything else concerning us. This is it. Are you ready for it? When no one at all is calling your name, Jesus is, and He says to you, I choose you! Come to me, get in my corner, because I am for you, on your side, I am already in yours, because I have chosen you already, even before the world began, and I have called your name, and I have placed a claim on you, have bought you with a high price, You are mine. I choose you, my child. Always remember, even at our lowest points in life, or if you feel unwanted or unloved, or like you are really at the bottom of the barrel, so to speak, in that moment, know this, God wants you, He desires us, and He can pull you out, you may not know it now, but He is calling out to you, He delights in saying your name, and He is saying it now, even above all the lies in our heads from the voice of the enemy, He speaks the only truth over you and I, He says, Son, or Daughter, Come unto me, for I choose you. I have loved you with an everlasting love, you are only how I see you through my eyes, I pick you, now you are on my team, now tell others about what I have done for you, how I chose you when you were at your lowest, how I have brought you so very far in this life, and I can do, I will do the same for them, tell them of the valuable words I have spoken to you, I choose you. For when you are in a season of life when you feel less than, or maybe like the outcast, Jesus has been there too, He has tasted of everything we have went through or can go through in this life, and He feels your pain and mine when it hits us, when we have hurts, or broken hearts, not just in the gym, but in the gym of life itself, and He is then calling out to us in those moments, saying, I choose you! You are mine, and I am yours, your Redeemer and Deliverer, your Comforter, I am for you, I love you as always, I have called you by name, how can I ever forget you or your name? Because I have so chosen you even before the world began, rejoice in this truth and be glad when I have brought you through your pain, or whatever you are facing, in the meantime, I have not forgotten, nor forsaken you, you are always on my heart, and I will always be with you.