{"id":20286,"date":"2021-07-02T09:38:22","date_gmt":"2021-07-02T13:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=20286"},"modified":"2021-07-02T09:43:29","modified_gmt":"2021-07-02T13:43:29","slug":"god-is-always-choosing-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=20286","title":{"rendered":"God is Always Choosing People"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MmIdoJQDfYQ\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p>Much of the Bible is largely character development and transformation of persons and institutions. It usually begins with an experience of \u201celection\u201d or chosenness. There\u2019s no getting started, it seems, without somehow knowing oneself as special and empowered. Then the character\u2014of people and groups\u2014will indeed and always develop. We cannot begin the journey on a negative or problem-solving note like \u201csin management.\u201d It all begins with an experience of chosenness, just as in marriage and friendship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Think of the many, many stories of God\nchoosing people. There are Moses and Miriam, Abraham and Sarah; there is\nDeborah, David, Jeremiah, and Esther. There is Israel itself. Much later\nthere\u2019s Peter, Paul, and most especially, Mary. God is always choosing concrete\npeople. First impressions aside, God is not primarily choosing them for a role\nor a task, although it might appear that way. God is really choosing them to be\nand to image <em>God <\/em>in\nthis world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>God needs images. God needs people to be\nwilling instruments. It\u2019s essential, though, for God\u2019s instruments to know that\nthey are not alone, that they are not just doing their own thing, but rather\nare doing God\u2019s thing. When God chooses someone in the Bible, the standard\nopening line is \u201cDo not be afraid\u201d (Genesis 15:1), and the final line usually\nincludes the promise \u201cI will be with you\u201d (Exodus 3:12).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Being chosen doesn\u2019t mean that God likes one\nover another or finds some better than others. <em>Almost always<\/em>, in fact, those chosen are quite\nflawed or at least ordinary people. It is clear that their power is not their\nown. As Paul will put it, \u201cIf anyone wants to boast, they can only boast about\nthe Lord\u201d (1 Corinthians 1:31).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The paradox is that God\u2019s chosenness is for the sake of communicating chosenness to everybody else! <\/em>As in the Jonah story, this often takes people a long time to learn. Here is the principle: We can only transform people to the degree that we have been transformed. We can only lead others as far as we ourselves have gone. We have no ability to affirm or to communicate to another person that they are good or special until we know it strongly ourselves. Once we get our own \u201cnarcissistic fix,\u201d as I call it, then we can stop worrying about being center stage. We then have plenty of time and energy to promote other people\u2019s empowerment and specialness. Only beloved people can pass on belovedness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>__________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>LET ME SHOW YOU My way for you this day. I guide you\ncontinually so you can relax and enjoy My Presence in the present. Living well\nis both a discipline and an art. Concentrate on staying close to Me, the divine\nArtist. Discipline your thoughts to trust Me as I work My ways in your life.\nPray about everything; then leave outcomes up to Me. Do not fear My will, for\nthrough it I accomplish what is best for you. Take a deep breath and dive into\nthe depths of absolute trust in Me. Underneath are the everlasting arms! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PSALM 5:2\u20133; Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for\nto you I pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ISAIAH 26:4 AMP; So trust in the Lord (commit yourself &#8211;\nBible Gateway So trust in the Lord (commit yourself to Him, lean on Him, hope\nconfidently in Him) forever; for the Lord God is an everlasting Rock [the Rock\nof Ages].<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>DEUTERONOMY 33:27; The eternal God is your dwelling place,\nand underneath are the everlasting arms. He drives out the enemy before you,\ngiving the command, &#8216;Destroy him!&#8217; The eternal God is your refuge, and\nunderneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemies before you,\nsaying, &#8216;Destroy them!&#8217;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Young, Sarah. Jesus Calling Morning\nand Evening Devotional (Jesus Calling\u00ae) (p. 380). Thomas Nelson. Kindle\nEdition.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Much of the Bible is largely character development and transformation of persons and institutions. It usually begins with an experience of \u201celection\u201d or chosenness. There\u2019s no getting started, it seems, without somehow knowing oneself as special and empowered. Then the character\u2014of people and groups\u2014will indeed and always develop. We cannot begin the journey on a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20286"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20286"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20288,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20286\/revisions\/20288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}