|
Listen to this devotional: |
Listen while you read: "From Ocean Unto Ocean"1 (Lyrics) |
Ephesians 1:3-4,7a – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. In him we have redemption through his blood. (NRSV)
When I think back on my childhood, I remember playing all kinds of games with neighbourhood children, like baseball, British Bulldog, and Red Rover. Many of the games began with choosing sides.
I can still remember the agony of waiting to be chosen for a team. I wasn't the tallest or the strongest or the fastest candidate. In fact, I was more of a clumsy runt of a little girl. I wasn't the most popular or most attractive prospect for either side wanting to put together a winning team. So often, I was left on the sidelines until the very end of the selection process.
I know what it is like to feel like an outsider and wanting desperately to be chosen.
Perhaps that's why I treasure today's verses from Ephesians that remind us that God chose us before the foundation of the world. Not only were we chosen for love, but we were also chosen for redemption.
This word "redemption" is a term that we don't often hear these days, unless it pops up in a new movie or a hit tune. The original term comes from slave market days, when slaves were bought and sold. If a person bought a slave, and then set the slave free, that person would be considered "redeemed".
The good news for those of us who are in Christ is that we have been redeemed. The price of our freedom has already been paid. From whatever enslaves us, from whatever keeps us from joyous and abundant living, we have been redeemed. The power of destructive habits and the power of sin have been broken. We now belong to God and come under God's loving protection.
Unfortunately, sometimes things get in the way of our hearing and believing this truth. Feelings of unworthiness and feelings of inadequacy sometimes have a way of creeping up on us as echoes from our past.
Thank God, we do not have to wait on the sidelines of life to know that we are of infinite worth to God. In Christ, each and every one of us is a beloved child of God, chosen for love and redemption from the beginning of time. We are God's first-round draft picks!
And that is good news indeed.
Prayer: Loving God, thank You for the encouragement of Your Word and for choosing us to be Your very own. Help us to see the worth in each and every one of Your children, each and every day. Amen.
Forward this devotional Share this devotional on Facebook Like PresbyCan on Facebook
Although PresbyCan doesn't have a mobile app, you can still have a PresbyCan icon on your mobile phone home screen. 
Wednesday, September 18, 2024 – In Asia — Pray for good planning and teaching abilities for me as I instruct others in how to use an evangelistic Bible study method. Pray for me as I also teach Arabic to two new worker candidates going to minister in the Middle East.
Abundance, new home and service: "Update September 13, 2024: I welcome prayers for the transition of my life .Please pray for me to..." 
Travel: "September 8, 2024: Please pray for my daughter and her two 20ish children who will be travelling to..." 
Amen dear sister!!
Thank you for a warm, friendly devotional. Just what I needed for a Monday
morning. Blessings.
Great encouragement Helen. And I’ve been there — done that — with the last one chosen thing too. Never was fun.
Thanks for spreading this marvellous truth today Helen.
Blessings.
Hi;
Good devotional. Well written.
Our pastor was preaching n this yesterday as part of a series called “Know God”.
Dear Helen,
“We’ re God’s first-round draft picks.” Now that made me think!
Keep writing gospel truth.
Dear Helen,
What an awesome devotional. We hear this message over and over again, but fail to really listen when it comes to judging our fellow brothers and sisters who act different from us. Amen to your prayer.
Hi Helen,
Loved reading your devotional. Truly encouraging and encouraged. Thanks for writing and sharing.
God bless you.
From one redeemed to another.
Thanks Helen for sharing this encouraging devotional. I can identify with being the last one picked since I was also small and not as gifted in sports games, except for footraces. I could run like the wind against kids my size. Isn’t it great that our size, ability, or effort aren’t needed when it comes to salvation because Jesus already did all that is needed to save us! PTL! Thanks again for sharing. Blessings.
Dear Helen,
Thank you for this inspiring and beautiful devotional. I was always on the sideline too when sides were chosen for team competitions. I used to laugh and say I was built not for speed but for accuracy. Knowing we are loved children of God is such a great booster seat.
Please keep contributing to the devotional. You have a special gift.
Blessings.
Dear Helen,
As one who has always been a member of the awkward squad, not helped at times by my history and where I have been sent, I can rejoice with you in the truth of 2 Corinthians 5:17 — Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (ESV)
How hard it is to live in the truth of the verse when we want to be justified and valued by those who do not. We know God is for us.
May we consider what has been said, take it to Jesus and then let go of other people’s negative values and judgements and prepare to soar on eagles’ wings and shelter in the shadow of the Most High as we lay our lives at the feet of Jesus where we are today. Not always easy but great to sit on Jesus’ knee when we can.
As we get nearer the finishing line let us set your minds on things above (Colossians 3:2) because that is where our treasure, future and validation are. Just a thought in passing.
Blessings.
Good words, Helen. I, too, know of all this. And I now know God made me and loves me unconditionally – alleluja! Thanks for your message.
Dear Helen,
Thank you for the great devotion of assurance.
We are Chosen: Chosen in him before the foundation of the world.
This devotional is lovely.
I was a little girl just like that.
So I really relate.