Chosen

Cats choose their people, whether the person likes it or not. You have the option to walk away, of course, but it doesn’t change the cats mind one iota. However, once you choose the cat in return, your life will never be the same.

In 2000, I happened to drop by my sister’s house and discovered a scruffy gold-colored tabby kitten sitting on her couch. I instinctively called “her” Goldie although I’m not sure why. The kitten followed me to the door, but I shooed it back in and continued on my way. Every time I went by in the next couple of weeks, the cat followed me, crying insistently. My sister practically begged me to take the four-week old stray they had rescued from a parking lot. Eventually, I gave in and took the tiny fur ball home with me. The small, short-haired, female tabby turned out to be a 12-pound, male Maine Coon. He followed me everywhere, content to sit in my lap or at my feet or on the rug outside the shower. He chose me, and I chose him in return. He was a source of comfort and companionship as well as frustration and irritation because after all he was a cat, but he was always my baby kitty no matter what.

Actually, we have all been chosen: “According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world” (KJV, Eph. 1:4). God chose to create mankind with the ability to choose Him in return. His gift of free will also gives us the opportunity to reject Him.

Not only were we chosen, but we were loved: “But God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (KJV, Rom. 5:8). He knew that in giving us free will that we would need a Savior, so he provided us a way out by dying on the cross.

Not only were we chosen, not only were we loved, but there is nothing that can or will keep Him from us: “Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creation, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (KJV, Romans 8:39). There is nothing we can do to separate us from God’s love except to not choose Christ as our savior.

We were chosen before we existed in our mother’s womb to be His children and he holds out his hand. You have the option to walk away, of course, but the better option is to choose Him in return. We will undoubtedly make mistakes because after all we are human. However, those mistakes will never separate us from the love of God because we will always be His beloved children.

We are chosen, but we must make a choice in return. Once we make that decision, we should be like Goldie, preferring to sit at our savior’s feet, following Him wherever He goes, content to be in His presence. Once you do, your life will never be the same.