May 15, 2024

Jesus chose twelve outsiders that no one would ever have chosen, and changed the entire history of the world with them! They turned everything upside down (Acts 17:6)! I find it such a beautiful story, how Jesus chose His disciples. All people who would not have chosen the world to ‘win a war with’, but outsiders, not-quits, simple people or some even the dregs of society at that time. The people of that time must expected the Messiah, whom they had been waiting for hundreds of years, to arrive with a very impressive array of army commanders and soldiers. Men with prestige and fighting skills, kings or people with a lot of force. But the opposite happened! He chose the broken-hearted, normal, hard-working simple men. Because these normal men simply obeyed Jesus, and followed Him, history has completely changed, and they helped save humanity from destruction. They helped Jesus start His ministry, and therefore people’s lives are still being completely transformed to this day. Jesus looks at the heart, and of course He already knew who would obey and follow Him. That is why I find the Bible texts Ephesians 1:3-4 and Romans 8:29 so powerful! “I am very grateful to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For He has given us in Christ all the wonderful spiritual things that are in the heavenly places. For He chose us before He made the world. He wanted us to belong to Him and to be perfect in Him. He loves us very much.” – Ephesians 1:3-4 “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” – Romans 8:29 How special it is that the Creator of heaven and earth knew before the earth even existed who would love Him and be obedient to His calls! Paint the picture When I try to paint a picture in my imagination of how Jesus and the group traveled from place to place preaching the Word, I secretly laugh; Jesus in front, who also had the appearance of a normal man. Following Him closely are a group of people of all backgrounds and appearances. Big and small men, Matthew the tax collector, Simon the Zealot, fishermen and farmers. In addition to His twelve disciples, there were also some women who faithfully followed Him, including Mary of Magdala, the woman who did not have the best reputation and carried seven demons before she met Jesus (luke 8:1-2). When I think about this, it brings a smile to my face.  We now know how the story will go and how powerfully these men and women will be used by God, but imagine what it must have been like for the bystanders at that time. When you see such a group approaching where the Leader claims to be the Messiah, followed by a ‘ragtag group’, you must have scratched your head. I love it! Some of them were so different from each other that they were also diametrically opposed to each other. Look at Matthew and Simon the Zealot. Matthew, a Jewish tax collector who worked for the Romans and had in fact turned against his own people, and Simon who had joined an extremist movement, the Zealots, that opposed the Romans. And these two had to find a way to work together. The narrow road Following Jesus is not the easiest path, as His twelve disciples were the first of us to discover. Jesus already warned us (Matthew 7:13-14). By following Him, you place yourself directly on a narrow road and against the current of the world. In the eyes of the world you are strange, different, and they will not understand why you are doing these things. Well, get used to different, LOL. When I look at the twelve men and women who were the first in the world to follow Him, I personally get a lot of encouragement from that. Fortunately, I am blessed to live in a time and continent where I do not experience such persecution as the twelve, especially looking at how their lives ended, but we can certainly learn a lesson from it. It is not always easy and persecution can come in different ways. Do we still stand for our faith, the Truth and do we continue to hold on to Jesus? Are we willing to work together with our brothers and sisters? Can we look beyond each other’s origins or past? Even though we may have different ways of thinking, different backgrounds and interests. As long as we’re all pointing towards Jesus, it shouldn’t matter. He qualifies you Jesus does not look at where you come from or what you have done, how much money, status or prestige you have, personnel or power. He doesn’t choose the qualified, He qualifies the chosen! He knew before the foundation of the earth that He would call you, and that you would answer to His call (Ephesians 1:4-5). You don’t have to be afraid to think you’re not good enough, He makes you good enough. There is no reason to feel unworthy. He chose you for a reason, a plan, to use you as His instrument, and to proclaim His Kingdom. Keep walking on the narrow path, and take comfort; there are many of us! Be encouraged by the twelve special heroes of faith who came before us!