Just think, you’re here not by chance
but by God’s choosing.
His hand formed you and made you
the person that you are.
He compares you to no one else –
you are one of a kind.
You lack nothing that His grace can’t give you.
He has allowed you to be here
at this time in history to fulfill
His special purpose for this generation.

By Roy Lessin

That’s a pretty powerful set of thoughts Mr. Lessin has put together. For people who have little self-confidence, these words, if believed, ought to provide a great boost.

The disciple, Peter, the fellow who would have sworn on a stack of Bibles (had a stack of Bibles been available) that he would never, ever, deny associating with, or following the teachings of Jesus might have found these words comforting. Peter needed to remember that he had been selected by Jesus himself, to be a disciple. Jesus was, as Peter himself confessed, the Messiah, and therefore Jesus must have had good reason to choose him. Peter was allowed to feel badly about denying his allegiance to Jesus, but he might have found some much-needed assurance in knowing that he had a purpose to fulfill even after his regrettable denials.

If Peter, a common laborer in his day, had personal gifts Jesus deemed worthy of using as one of his church developers, can’t the Lord make equal use of any of us? It’s easy to look in the mirror and see our facial faults; it’s easy to perform some private self-examination and come to the conclusion that there are others better equipped, but if we believe Mr. Lessin’s words, we realize that God has given each of us the ability to do something that furthers God’s purpose, God’s will for creation. Paraphrasing Lessin’s words: we are here not by chance, but as part of God’s design; God has given us our personal faith and our unique abilities; God’s grace is sufficient to see us through any ordeal or task and we are in this particular place, in this particular time to fulfill God’s will.

In this season of Lent, when self-examination is a good and proper thing to do, I challenge you (I’ll do this too) to spend a bit of time considering:

• Do you see yourself as performing God’s will in the way you are living your life?
• Can you believe that God has fitted you out for a certain role? And are you playing your part faithfully?
• Can you believe, in those instances when you know you’ve failed as Peter did, that God has forgiven you and wants you to press on as best you can?

May each of us strive to be instruments of God’s healing and peace in our part of his world.

Yours in Christ,

Craig