Why Has Jesus Chosen You?

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KJB Daily DevotionFollowing Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Chapters: Mark 6, Luke 9
Message: Why Has Jesus Chosen You?

Hello My Friend,

Yesterday I talked about how Jesus chooses us to be His disciples, today, we are going to talk about why He chooses us to begin with. First of all, if we are not saved, we are never going to be one of His disciples, you cannot tell the world about Him without knowing Him as your personal Saviour yourself. Of course, there are many people who preach the Gospel without being saved, but they also struggle in life too. You see, the devil has no problem with us knowing who Jesus is, he knows Him for sure, but he will do whatever he can to keep people from getting saved themselves. “Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?” – Galatians 5:7.

Another factor in Jesus choosing us is our faith, no, not in doubting our salvation, but our faith in Him doing anything else in our lives. You learn who your true friends are when you start telling them about Jesus and what He did for you and them. Jesus Himself went home into Galilee, He began teaching in the synagogue and was in fact rejected by His own people, He was amazed at their disbelief.

And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him. And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.– Mark 6:1-6.

From whence hath this man these things?One time I took a math test after being out of the class for some time and was accused of cheating because I got a good grade, the teacher ended up giving me a failing grade instead and did not even give me a chance to prove I did no wrong. As Christians, no matter what you do or say to some, even though you know what you are talking about, they will never accept you to be true and will reject you because of your faith in Christ. The world never sees Christ for who He is, and they do not want to, to them He is just some preacher man trying to get them to stop enjoying the life they are living. Following Christ often does come with a price, and that price is letting go of the things of the world, which often includes many family and friends we thought would follow us. Jesus explains what the cost of choose Him is.

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels. But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.– Luke 9:23-27.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it:The cost, losing the life we once lived, but we are gaining a much better one in exchange. Jesus changes us the second we receive Him as our Saviour, if we choose to follow Him after we are saved we will discover that the life we lived before Him was meaningless, but if we remain living the way we lived we are going to face much more difficulties. Why? You cannot get saved without it impacting you in some way, You now have the blood of Christ in you, and that is something Jesus does not take lightly, of course, it will impact you. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.– Hebrews 6:4-6.

Another factor in Christ choosing us to be His disciple is our faithfulness to Him, we must not let life hinder us from His coming to us. Mark also gives an account of Jesus telling the disciples to get into a ship and head to Bethsaida and Him coming to them on the water as a storm brewed, but he adds an interesting line to the story.

And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people. And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray. And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out: For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.– Mark 6:45-52.

and would have passed by them.You know, Jesus is always right there walking toward us, the reason we suffer more than we need to is because we let Him pass by due to the hardness of our heart. No matter how strong our faith, trials, afflictions, emotions, pride, impatience, all of these things thicken the wall around our heart, and it can cause us to not even realize the miracle God just did in us. I admit that I have had a hard heart and it lasted for a few years, even though I was faithful to serving Him, my heart was not completely open to Him and for that reason I struggled a lot. It was not until I humbled myself before God and told Him that I needed Him to help me that I began to see Him work in my life again. We do not have to let the cares of life let Jesus pass us by, the key, we must realize that we cannot do this without Jesus. We must understand that we are no different than the original twelve, they did they same things we do, they even ran from Him when He got arrested out of fear, when He chooses us it is often because we chose to follow Him first, Jesus explains.

And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.– Luke 9:57-62.

but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” So many people get saved, but Christ is not invited into their homes. None of us are without sin, we all have pasts, some more worldlier than others, even those who grew up in the church have been impacted by the world some how, and many even questioned their salvation later in life because they never fully understood that none of us are good. Jesus does not just want to be our Saviour, He wants to be our brother, our friend, our confidant, and that is all a part of Him being LORD of our lives. Yes, Jesus chooses us once we choose to make Him LORD, but we get much more in return. Salvation is never a free ticket to live a sinful life, we may not end up in hell, but we will face a lot of problems if we choose to remain in our sin after we are saved. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” – Romans 6:1-4.

Jesus Christ Magnified: “And said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great. – Luke 9:48.

Today’s Prayer: Jesus, There is not a day that goes by where I do not wonder why You chose me to be one of Your disciples, I mess up every day, yet You continue to use me to tell the world about You. The greatest miracle You ever did in me is save me from the pits of hell, but You did much more than that, You saved me from the pain I could have inflicted from the life I was living before I made You LORD. I do not always understand You, and I do not know why You need me so, but I do know that I need You every second of every day because my flesh is weak and You are my only strength to keep going. When I am sad, You are my joy, when I fall, You pick me up, when I cry, You dry the tears, You are always faithful to me, and I am sorry for letting You pass by when I thought I could get by on my own. You are LORD of my life, keep my heart open so I can reap the full benefits of choosing to follow You. In Your name Jesus, I pray. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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