How do you overcome the hurt of not being chosen whether it was the hurt as a child of not being picked for a sports team, or being an unwanted baby, or being passed over for a promotion, or being cast aside for a new love? These hurts can leave deep scars upon our souls. Often, we spend a lifetime trying to measure up to some imagined ideal just so we will be accepted, will be good enough. Yet, we never seem to hit that mark.
Does it begin with learning to love yourself? But how do you learn to love yourself when the message that keeps playing over and over in your mind is that you are not good enough, not lovable enough?
The answer, of course, is God. But letting God change that message takes real effort. It involves a constant refusal to believe the lie and instead, focus on what God says about you. It is letting God's acceptance be all you need. Easy to say, hard to practice.
The first step is claiming the truth of scripture that God has chosen you, the believer:
Ephesians 1:11 - "In Him we were also chosen ..."
Colossians 3:12 - "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved ..."
1 Thessalonians 1:4 - "For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that He has chosen you ..."
1 Peter 2:9 - "But you are a chosen people ..."
The second step is to fill your heart with that message. "I will meditate on your wonderful works" (Psalm 145:5). When that ugly lie rears its head, refute it with a passage that tells of God's love for you.
The third step is to read scripture to discover God's character and meditate upon who God is. The more our eyes are focused upon God, the more we really begin to comprehend who He is and the more awed, humbled, and amazed we are that GOD, Yahweh, Creator would choose us! The other voices fade away in the presence of God.
Regardless of what the world thinks about me, my God loves me for I am His child. I am chosen.