What does it mean to be chosen?

But you are a chosen people, set aside to be a royal order of priests, a holy nation, God’s own; so that you may proclaim the wondrous acts of the One who called you out of inky darkness into shimmering light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received it. (I Peter 2:9-10)

Chosen - selected from several, sometimes for the uniqueness of the object, but always because the one choosing wants to make that which is chosen their own. We are the object of his desire - selected specifically because there is something in each of us which he uniquely desires and has "use for" in his Kingdom. The specific purpose God has in mind for you may differ from what he has in mind for me, but as long as we understand clearly that he has selected us BECAUSE he has a purpose for each of, then we are on the same path! Our purpose? One purpose that is NOT unique to each of us is that of loving him with all our hearts, souls, and minds. All of us are called to fulfill this purpose. None of us is unique in that calling. We also have a common purpose of proclaiming the wondrous acts of the One who called us out of INKY darkness into SHIMMERING light. 

I don't think there is a better illustration of sin's "darkness" - for the INKY darkness of sin's hold is indeed a stain from which we cannot apply any amount of detergent or scrubbing action to successfully remove. Yet, somehow by the tremendous power of Christ's blood applied to that INKY dark stain of sin in our lives, we are made WHITE as snow! Shimmering light - that is what describes our position in Christ Jesus - no longer bound up in the INKY darkness of sin's hold. We are to proclaim the transformation which has occurred - to be living testimonials of his mercy and grace! This is our common calling - and it is this purpose which we are called to fulfill with each breath we take. We each have other unique traits - things like our ability to lead, organize, sing, play an instrument, welcome people, or even run a sound system. These seem very practical and a little "not so spiritual" but remember even these talents are "spiritual" when yielded to his hand for his use and purpose within his Kingdom work!

We are "set aside" to be a royal order of priests - a holy nation, God's own. We may not feel very valuable on occasion. Chosen - selected for a specific purpose; set aside - called out so we could fulfill the purpose of being his OWN. Even if we don't feel like we "belong" anywhere on this earth, we BELONG in his Kingdom. Do you know what it means to NOT be chosen? It means to be overlooked, but the problem with how many of us do the choosing is that we don't look deep enough. God does more than take a cursory look our direction - he looks deep into the possibilities in each of us. Then he goes beyond the surface glance, searching the depths of our hearts until he sees just what he wants and lifts us into his arms and into his presence. So, the next time you want to be down on yourself and think you don't fulfill any particular purpose in this life - think again! You are chosen! You are a holy people! You are a child of the King! You are taken from INKY darkness into SHIMMERING light! You are his chosen one! Just sayin!