Chosen

The prophet Isaiah helps us to understand our calling as God’s chosen people. Sometimes people take “being chosen” to mean that God loves some (“the chosen”) and not others, or at least not as much. People decide who fits into the “chosen” category and then feel justified in demonizing everyone else.

But of course God loves everyone, not just some. So what does it mean to be chosen? Well, there has to be a way to make God’s love visible in the world, so that others can choose the same path. God chooses some, God chooses us, to be in service for the others. Jesus selects and calls us for the sake of the world. We hear from Isaiah “I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6) So it’s not about us. It’s about the whole world. So being chosen means we are called to be of service, to help bring others to the path of Christ.

Being chosen doesn’t mean that we are better than others, but it does mean that we have a perspective that helps us realize what the world is all about, what our purpose in life is, what our core values are, and how as a society we can move toward peace. Our call is to pass on that knowledge in word and deed.

Even though we can sometimes experience our Christian call as difficult or even burdensome, we can be sure that God is working in the world through our daily efforts to be faithful to God and to the people in our life. It’s good to remind ourself at times that as we share in the sufferings of Christ, so too will we share in his glory. This is the joy of the Christian life–to be chosen by the Lord as his friends and followers, and to experience on this earth a taste of the peace, the justice, the love promised to those who remain in him.