His Selection

"... we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world ..."

We can choose to rejoice in the day, even if it's a rough day. We have the choice to stand in one of two places. The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but God works all things together for our good. I'm going to choose the God working all things together for your good. What about you? What will you choose? Loss or gain? As His child, both options are open to you; they really are.

This life is not a series of random events as Darwinism would have us believe. Natural selection is replaced by spiritual selection; you are a chosen child of God, selected and adopted. He walked into the orphanage, saw you, and said, "I want this child, I choose (your name here)." We are chosen. We are not at the mercy of the cosmos, we are in the hands of a sovereign God; a loving, all-powerful, sovereign God. 

Family time can be a rough time. Put a mix of people together with very strong similarities and very strong dissimilarities and what do you have? A potentially explosive concoction. But God is either in it, or He's not. He's either fighting for you, or He's not. It's not about family struggle or relationship woes, it's about the battle to love one another in the midst of a spiritual war; it's about fighting a force whose intent is to destroy relationship and family.

You think it's a battle out there? It's an even bigger battle inside these four walls called home.

But in the midst of all of this, God has a purpose. He does for me and He does for you. Sitting at a dinner table, eating Sushi, talking through family dynamics, my little six year old niece looks up, points her finger towards me, and like a surgeon with the skill of a scalpel in hand, speaks words that cut through our lunch conversation. With the words of an angel and her eyes fixed on me she says, "You should be a pastor."


OK. That stopped me. Out of the mouths of babes. She had no idea (at least I don't think she did). What those words did to me; I had to hold back the swell of emotions to keep from becoming a public spectacle in the restaurant. The history, the questions asked of God. What do you want me to do, God? Where are you leading me? The answer came at an unexpected time, from an unexpected source, through an innocent and beautiful young girl who had no idea what had been on my heart for the last three months. 

This was not part of the enemy's plan. He wanted blow outs and bitterness. But instead, God got His way - blessing and choosing; spiritual selection. In His time, in His way, God works all things together for our good. As we choose to stand on that side, we see it come to pass. 

A lot of words in this blog, I know. But that's just the pastor in me speaking.