Have you ever not been chosen? It may have first occurred in a grade school gym class when two appointed dodgeball captains called out names and yours was the last to be called. Maybe later on you weren’t chosen for your high school sports team, play, or singing group. Perhaps still later, you weren’t chosen by a person you hoped to date or for a promotion you hoped to get.

Not being chosen can make us feel like losers. If we experience it often enough, we may end up depressed, thinking that we’re worthless.

But nothing could be further from the truth, because long before the job promotion, the school play, or the grade school dodgeball team, we already were chosen. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart” (Jeremiah 1:5). God chose you and me to be on his team, not based on our physical prowess, musical talent, looks, or intellect. He chose us simply because he loved us—from the moment we were conceived in our mothers’ wombs.

Isn’t that amazing! For no reason whatsoever, God chose us. Equally amazing is that he promises we will always remain on his team: “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28).

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:12).