Happy Sabbath friends! Have you ever had moments in your life when you would be picked last? Or maybe you ended up being the second choice if it was between you and another person. This can apply towards a game where you have to pick people to be on your team, it can even relate to dating, or it can apply towards life in general. I know I have most certainly had moments in my life when I was not the first choice. I am certain that the majority of people who are reading this message would be in agreeance in the matter that being someone’s first choice has a way of making us feel seen, loved, wanted, and appreciated. I am writing to you today to state that if you have ever faced moments in your life when you weren’t chosen, or you were the second to last option, you are not alone. I am also here to shed light on the matter that this world may not choose you, but God most certainly will.

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
1 Peter 2:9-10 NIV

“for you are a people holy to the Lord your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession.”
Deuteronomy 14:2 NIV

We are the Lord’s treasured possession…isn’t that such a blessing? The next time you are faced in a moment where you aren’t chosen, or you are someone’s second to last option, I want you to read the above pieces of scripture as a reminder that our Heavenly Father cherishes, loves, and chooses you. Our Lord loves us so much that He does not want us settling for moments where we are not showered with the love that we so very deserve as His precious children. This world may not see our worth and what we have to offer, but our God sees it all. He knows us better than we know ourselves. Our God sees us, and loves us unconditionally.

“And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
Matthew 10:30-31 NIV

“Yet you know me, Lord; you see me and test my thoughts about you. Drag them off like sheep to be butchered! Set them apart for the day of slaughter!”
Jeremiah 12:3 NIV

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
John 10:27-28 NIV

Our Lord God sees, loves, and chooses us every single day. It is ultimately OUR choice whether we want our Heavenly Father to be OUR first choice too. He gives us our own free will to make that decision as His love, and true love, is never forced. Let’s say you were the captain for the team of your own life, and you had to choose people who you would want by your side during your journey…now imagine Jesus being One of the options amongst various others – some you are close to, and maybe some you barely know. Take a moment to reflect…who would honestly be your first choice?

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.”
John 15:16 NIV

“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
2 Corinthians 9:7 NIV

I can only speak for myself in the matter that I love feeling seen, loved, and appreciated by the people in my life. I value this so much so that I also do my very best to reciprocate the same to those around me as I believe we should most definitely surround ourselves with people who exemplify these attributes through not just their words, but their actions too. What I find to be so comforting is the fact that there is One person who is in my life, and in your lives, who I know will never leave nor forsake me, and when I am in His presence, I know that I truly am seen, loved, appreciated, and valued in His sight.

In the presence of God, we can rest in the truth that we will forever be chosen. This world may not see us, but our God most certainly does. Praise the Lord for a Heavenly Father so great that He chooses us time and time again because in Him, we are enough.

“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—”
John 1:12 NIV

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”
1 John 3:1 NIV

Amen.