Chosen

1 Thessalonians 1:2-10

I can easily fall into a state of overwhelming disorientation. Things hit me at once and I long for my teenage and/or college years when I could easily and efficiently jump from one thing to another without the feeling of losing something. Add to that general confusion about the way the world works, disappointment and loss of hope in leaders and institutions, a lack of knowledge where to go ext, what to do next, and what consequences any one choice may have, and I am pretty depressingly escapist. No wonder people turn to addictions, fantasies, or God to cope. The world seems very complicated, not by choice, but by expectation. Somehow, I am still alive and seemingly well. I do not know how. It is a testament to God's continual presence and providence that we don't destroy ourselves totally.

Paul says, "For we know, brothers [and sisters] loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simple with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction." Yeah... that is true. Paul was pretty good at encouraging Christians when they needed it. He reminds the church in Thessalonica (1) that they are loved by God, and (2) that they were chosen by God. Neither claim is in dispute, even though Christians everywhere and in every time may doubt their faith or their calling. Paul's justification for this claim is not based on words. Anyone can repeat creeds or dogma or catchphrases popular with churches, but words do not mean squat when it comes to the chosen nature of Christ-followers. Paul says the gospel, the good news of Jesus, was not simply heard and understood and accepted as a proposition. No, in fact the Holy Spirit itself made clear to all that these people had been chosen by God for a purpose. The Holy Spirit manifested itself with power and conviction: hard things to dispute within oneself.

What the Holy Spirit has made known to us, may we not forsake or fall away from. The Spirit deals not in mere words and ideas, but makes those words and ideas 3D! They are given life and vibrancy, power and conviction that pop out from a static world of Super Nintendo into the realm of Wii. I apologize for the pop culture references, but it works at a superficial level. Nothing stops the power of the Spirit in us except our failure to live into it. Politics, education, paperwork, routines, interruptions, suffering, death- none of them are comparable to the power of the Spirit.

We are chosen, friends. Let us not forget the power we have been given. May we count all else as loss, but the love of Jesus Christ for which we give our all.