“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” 1 Peter 2:9
If we have been chosen and called by God, then why do we still struggle in our heads and in our hearts with the sense of rejection? Whether it’s for a job promotion, a special award or our marriage partner, we all long to be chosen by someone. Author, speaker, and teacher Dr. Heather Holleman shares her personal experience of wrestling with rejection and the desire to be chosen.
“It’s one of the sustained longings of the human heart to just feel noticed and special. What I’ve discovered as I got older is that it didn’t matter that I already had a husband, it didn’t matter that I won awards or got even got book recognition and publications, I was still waiting for the next experience to help me feel chosen.”
“I thought to myself, why am I longing to feel this special sense that I’m picked, adored, and wanted? Why am I still living out of rejection after all of these years? I was thinking of students crying during my office hours feeling rejected from jobs or different relationships. Then I realized that we all want to feel chosen and Scripture has an answer for that feeling.”
Heather dove into God’s Word to further understand why she had this desire to be chosen in the first place.
“For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves.” Ephesians 1:4-6
“It was as if the Holy Spirit was saying to me: You can get over this problem. You are already chosen.”
“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” John 15:16
Instead of focusing on how God chooses people, Heather focused in on why He chooses people. She shares seven Biblical reasons for why God chose us to belong to Him:
To worship Jesus.
To live as His treasured possession.
To belong to a new family.
To become like Jesus.
To display God’s power in our ordinary days.
To complete the good works He designed for you.
To live differently from the rest of the world.
Studying the Scriptures helped Heather to understand that she was already chosen by God and it was something that she didn’t have to scramble or strive for. We, too, were not chosen based on our own efforts or individual accomplishments, but rather for the Person of Jesus Christ. We can live every day knowing that God chose us for Himself and has uniquely set us apart for Christ.
Heather Holleman, PhD, is a speaker, writer, and college instructor. She is a faculty member of Penn State’s English Department and teaches both freshman composition and advanced writing. She is author of several books including .
Chosen for Christ
