“I HAVE CHOSEN YOU!”

Isaiah 41:8-10                                       (ESV)

“8 But you, Israel, MY servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend; 

9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, "You are MY servant, “I HAVE CHOSEN YOU” and not cast you off"; 

10 fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your GOD; I WILL STRENGTHEN YOU, I WILL HELP YOU, I WILL UPHOLD YOU WITH MY RIGHTEOUS RIGHT HAND.”

The atrocities committed against a person, or group of persons, are sometimes hard to describe, and definitely need to be learned from so that they prevent similar issues in the future. Unless we learn (by performing differently than those before us), we are doomed to continue living in the failures of our ancestry.  

A very personal experience that GOD continues to teach me with happened when I was engaged to be married to the woman GOD had chosen to be my helpmeet.  A brief time of “indecision” was presented to me causing me to put our engagement on hold for a week or so.  You see, the man who fathered me was married at least five times.  He was known to not be very faithful.  The thought of being just like him was something that I definitely didn’t want to be, so I had to convince myself that I was NOT my father!  Although he had fathered me, the Holy Spirit lived inside of me and HE was able to steer me away from those bad decisions.  My wife and I have been married almost 37 years, and I thank GOD that HE orchestrated our meeting, marriage, and eternity!

It appears that everyone has an idea for “racial reconciliation”, in other words, fixing the problem between different races, cultures, and actions!  We who have been CHOSEN are a NEW CREATION (2 Corinthians 5:17), a race created by THE CREATOR HIMSELF, JESUS!  HE revealed to me that HE was able to cause me to live for HIM, even though I WAS (old self) formerly of the flesh!  PLEASE, do NOT misunderstand, it is not because I was so righteous that I was able to avoid some of the bad choices others make!  It is because “I HAVE CHOSEN YOU” to be different than “this world”!  

Being the same as everyone else is something that is “natural” for mankind.  Being SEPARATE from “this world” is what 2 Corinthians 6:17 is instructing us to be.  When we are CHOSEN, we become a NEW CREATION, SEPARATE from “this world”, to be a LIGHT in a dark world!  The old has passed away, and the NEW CREATION is made to live!  When “I HAVE CHOSEN YOU”, HE MAKES ALL THINGS NEW, even old wounds!!!