Ephesians 1:4-5 NLT
'Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.'
One of the benefits of ageing is the recognition that life can be taken far too seriously. As a younger person, I was certainly convinced of my need to make some difference in the world. There was what I can only describe as an innate desire for significance. In my early struggles with ego and ambition, I confused significance with fame, the need to be noticed, admired and receive some level of public recognition.
I’ve come to see this was just selfish ambition entangled with personal insecurity. It has taken time to appreciate that my total significance lies in the simple fact that I am both recognised and accepted by God. Strangely, my initial reaction was to struggle with an internal dissatisfaction with this definition. Why did I feel this need to ‘prove’ myself, or at least, my value, to God and a silent watching crowd?
It is my privilege to be a touchstone for God to express whatsoever he chooses in and through me. No matter the context in which I find myself, there is God. I have simply to be available. This can prove a challenge for, within each and every context, rationality assaults my standing as a blessed child of God. I always journey with my own internal luggage containing my fears, anxieties, threats and the like. These cry out for my attention. They collude within my head with comparisons with peers and established normative social behaviour; the white-water rapids I must navigate to enter into the full knowledge and experience of the reality of God’s blessing that is constant and consistent.
QUESTION: You were chosen by God before the creation of the world. Is there anything more significant than that?
PRAYER: Help me disentangle myself from the mirage of significance, and deepen my relationship with you.

Released on 12 May 2020