I’m entering my fourth decade as a pastor and I’ve learned the question to ask. If we were having this talk over coffee and you were telling me about your tough times, I’d lean across the table and say, “What do you still have that you cannot lose?” The difficulties have taken much away. I get that. But there’s one gift your troubles cannot touch. Your destiny. Can we talk about it? You are God’s child. He saw you, picked you, and placed you. Jesus said, “You did not choose Me. I chose you.”
I remember a groom once leaned over just minutes before the ceremony and told me, “You weren’t my first choice.” “I wasn’t?” I responded. “No,” he said, “the preacher I wanted couldn’t make it.” “Oh,” I said. He whispered, “But thanks for filling in.” You’ll never hear such words from God. He chose you. Replacement or fill-in? Hardly. You are His first choice. His open, willful, voluntary choice. This child is mine! His child forever–that’s who you are.
