You Are A Choosen People

by Rick
(Chapel Hill)

Isn’t it amazing at the special place we hold in God’s sight. We are not a crowd, not a mass, not like 10,000 ants on an ant hill: God sees, knows and individually is acquainted with all there is to know about us. Our hopes, fears, secrets, the times “we knew no one was looking”; our great God remembers us and has known us since the foundations of the world. How precise? Knows number hairs on our head, Matthew 10:30: "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”
The Christian walk as it is satisfying; it is not at all easy. One of the greatest writers of the New Testament, the Apostle Paul who was stoned, journeyed to the third heaven, shipwrecked, snake bit, mobbed and imprisoned, yet was a living testimony for Christ. Such being the case of his stalwart life for the “preaching of Christ and Him crucified”, we must remember Paul, just like us, had his own faults. More than once he lamented in his letters to the varies churches in Romans 7:19: the good that I would do, I do not; but the evil which I would not do, I do. I won’t say it is comforting, but it is somewhat heartening to know as we struggle, trip and sometimes fall, we as Paul have the blessed promise recorded in 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. One of the glories and overwhelming grace of our Father is the certainty of His word. God never changes His mind, never shifts His opinions or beliefs to keep up with changing times or ever lies.
Isaiah 41:4 God said: “Who makes these things happen? Who controls human events? I do! I am the LORD.I was there at the beginning; I will be there at the end.” Even our Lord and savior Paul writes in Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” What an excellent promise and guarantee, truly we can stand on the promises of God literally.
About 10 years ago, I was working a murder case where a man had gruesomely killed his girlfriend and fled the house. While at the scene, I received radio call to immediately contact the county jail. Upon phoning, I found the person of interest in the murder had turned himself in at the jail. Leaving and arriving at the jail, I found a man of small stature, clothes and hands covered with blood. After advising him of his rights, change of clothes and collecting of evidence, the guy who was 24 years old agreed to talk with me.
Long story short, he stated the girl and he had an argument, fought and he stabbed her to death. As I was fingerprinting him at the Booking table, he and I were the only two in the room. In a quiet voice he asked, “Do you know about Jesus?” I was dumbfounded and somewhat off guard, regaining my voice, I said, “Sure. I know about Jesus.” The man then sobbing quietly said, “I don’t know Jesus, can you tell me about Him?”
At that point as I finished the fingerprinting, I softly explained to the prisoner the plan of salvation, the love of Christ, His sacrifice for our sins and God’s love. The man asked if we could pray and we did; there in the jail at the booking desk I took his hand and he received Christ as his personal savior.
Eventually, the man took a plea arrangement of 20 years to life for the crime of manslaughter. I drove him to the state prison which is only 30 miles away. As we topped the hill of the road, the prison came into sight. Tears came into the man’s eyes, a trembling in his voice he asked, “Jesus in prison?” I told him, “Yeah, Jesus is in prison. He’s wherever you are”, he shook his head and said it would be alright then.
In our lives, we hopefully don’t have issues as murder to face, yet some circumstances and events in life can be just as upsetting or cause pain in our Christian walk. As kids and often as adults we fall and skin and elbow, knee, or injure our skin or even worse our inner spirit. Sometimes God leaves a scar to remind us of how we received an injury, even though it heals, when we see that mark, we recall how it hurt, how long it took to recover and the hows and whys we obtained it. Even though the man in the jail accepted Christ, he was sorry for his actions, often events pose a penalty which must be paid; 20 years to life was that man’s scar; Galatians 6:7: ”Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”
There are great commitments our God has made to us His sons and daughters. We can continue in His way with confidence, salvation and grace of a grand arrangement created by a wondrous all powerful God. Let us remember even as Paul achieved and failed, we likewise strive for the prize and that greeting from our Lord “well done, good and faithful servant.”