November 20^th, 2017

John 15: 16a

“You didn’t choose me. I chose you”

Since the beginning of Ignite I have wondered how is it that this is my life? How is it that I was chosen by God to have this life I do? Since being here in Cambodia I have certainly been counting my blessings with thanksgiving this week and all naturally you start to thing more about the things that God has blessed you with. For me, I thought a lot about my family and childhood. You see I was born into a Pastor’s family and I loved it. The church is my extended family and I know that I have a lot of people that truly care about me there. But I didn’t get a choice about whose family I was born into. Only God has the power to decide that. So how is it that I ended up on this adventure and after such an amazing childhood only the grace of God I once heard a quote in a sermon about poverty that went something on the lines of this “Poverty is merely based off latitude and longitude not the lack of ambition some one might have or laziness.” It’s all because of grace. It’s undeserved and incomprehensible. All I know is that God has given me the chance to pursue Him in countries other than my native one, and teach children about Jesus and what he did for them.

Growing up I always belittled my testimony saying that there isn’t much to it, it wasn’t interesting. It wasn’t radical enough.  But I have come to the realization that there is so much more to my testimony than what I have or haven’t done in terms of sins. Obviously, I am not perfect, but God has kept me safe from so much and that is a miracle in itself. But again, it is all by His grace none of it has anything to do with me. So, my question is why did you choose me God? I am not any better than the person next to me, so why me? I didn’t choose you. It’s an interesting statement because so often we think that we choose God but really it is Him who chooses us. This verse is so simple yet so complex, I wish that I could understand it the way that God does. That I could completely understand how much He loves me.

Application: Pray for a glimpse of God’s amazing love for us.