Team Captain

by Ryan Lewis

I remember playing soccer at recess in elementary school. There would be so many kids on the field playing the sport every day. We’d line up, and the two best soccer players on the field would be captains and pick teams. Usually I knew which team I wanted to be on after seeing the first couple of picks.

Bribes aside, there was nothing I could really do to convince the captain to pick me. As a hyper child, I usually would stretch my hand as high as it would go and dance around like I had to pee. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.

But this is salvation. God is the Team Captain. We do not choose God, we accept the invitation to be a part of his team. Sure, God has given us the ability to choose, but the way we choose God is by surrendering our ability to choose anything else. If it was a matter of picking between God and not God, we would be saving ourselves. Not only is that impossible, but that would mean we’d have serious bragging rights.

If you’re on the winning team, don’t feel proud. Feel blessed to have been chosen.

[ 2 Thessalonians 2:13 ] – “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.”