Daily Bread

WHEN YOU'RE NOT CHOSEN

G-et into God's Word

Acts 1:15-26

In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) and said, “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus. He was one of our number and shared in our ministry.”  (With the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)  “For,” said Peter, “it is written in the Book of Psalms: “ ‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’ and, “ ‘May another take his place of leadership.’  Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”  So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.

R-eflect into God's Word

What's the feeling of being rejected or not being chosen?
It hurts, is it?

In competition, it is common that when you are not chosen, it's okay but still, it feels hurt especially when you did your best to won but sadly not.

In a complicated relationship whether it is in real life or teleserye's, we will feel the hurt of being not chosen by the one we love.

In career and study, when our project was not chosen or even ourselves was not chosen, we feel also hurt and rejected.

That was the example of those experiences we may have or we may hear to others. Just like the story in Acts1:15-26 wherein the disciples decide to replace Judas. Maybe Joseph felt rejected for not choosing him, or maybe it's okay for him for he understands God's calling. We do not know either what he feels because he isn't mentioned again after that scenario. But this story may teach us one thing, and that is "joyfully serve whatever role Jesus has for us". It doesn't matter if we weren't chosen by this world, What matters is we joyfully serve and we are chosen to serve God.

O-bey to transform

How are we going to respond when we are in this situation? Ask yourselves once, "Do I feel rejected? What matters when I  was not chosen?" And when we realized and remember what we feel about that experience, let God remind us. That God wants you to serve Him joyfully in whatever role he has for you.  And the next time, we may experience it again? We haven't affected anymore if we weren't chosen because we know, we do what we do for God, not for people around us.

W-restle in Prayer

We can continue to wrestle this on our prayer. Not just ask God for today but ask Him to remind you every day by this. May we not feel rejected and not chosen anymore. Yes, we may not avoid that feeling but the good thing is it won't last and we know God's word already comfort us.

#ChosenByGod
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https://bible.com/bible/111/act.1.15-26.NIV