Why Did God Choose Me? I’m Broken.

I. M. Koen
Aug 4
4 min read

What possible value could I be to God?

Woman crouches on a chair in a dusty, abandoned classroom with broken seats and peeling paint. Mood is desolate. Light streams in. — Photo by Dynamic Wang on Unsplash

I wonder if you are like me. Do you ever say, “Surely, God made a mistake in choosing me. There is nothing worthy in me, nothing of value to offer”? I’m a nobody. I keep messing up. I keep making bad choices. I’ve done nothing substantial with my life. What did God see in me that made Him think I could ever be of value to Him? Spiritually, I’m a loser. I’m broke. Nobody else needs me. Why would God need me? “Oh, the staggering bravery of God in entrusting His purposes to us!”-Oswald Chambers

That is precisely why He chooses us. The journey with Jesus is never about what we bring to the table, but about what He deposits within us.

I often admire those with great natural gifts and assume their talents will make them exceptional Christians. They have keen intellects and are dripping with intelligence. Yep, they are waaaay more qualified than I am.

“That writer is amazing. So naturally talented. I bet God will use that person in a big way to bring Him glory. So smart. So gifted. Looks good, smells good, sounds good-the whole package. That’s a world-changer right there.”

But true spiritual effectiveness springs from poverty of spirit. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Wait, what? Does the true kingdom of Jesus look more like the guy delivering mail to the top floor than the C-level exec with the corner office?

As followers of Jesus, we are not here to fulfill our own dreams or agendas. We are here to be aligned with God’s will — completely and unequivocally. We attempt great and mighty things, hoping to “please daddy” in heaven. But that’s not what He is looking for. God prefers quality time over impressive gifts.

It took me decades to understand that God prefers humble dependence over powerful independence.

He’d rather I lean my head on his shoulder than toss him the keys to a Maserati. It almost seems backwards.

The church is getting it wrong. We aren’t dropping our nets to follow Jesus. We are getting more nets and additional boats. We are building a fleet. But what Jesus would prefer is a small, intimate fish breakfast over a campfire on the beach. Fleets are cool. But conversations with the King of Kings are cooler.

The most vital aspect of our Christian life is not the visible work we do, but the relationship we maintain with Jesus. Out of that abiding relationship flows influence, power, and fruit (John 15:4-5).

God does not ask us to maintain perfect productivity, but to maintain perfect connection. It is this relationship, cultivated in quietness, prayer, repentance, meditation, trials, and trust, that He craves.

The greatest calling is not to be impressive for God, but to be intimately available to Him.

To walk in daily dependence, humility, and communion — this is the ground where His glory is made known through our weakness.

“Consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards… But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise…” (1 Corinthians 1:26–29)“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. (Isaiah 55:8)“Abide in Me, and I in you..for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4–5)

This article is a crazy concept. It’s the “anti-Darwin”- survival of the unfittest. Cream doesn’t rise to the top in the Kingdom of God. What makes it to the future is what has sunk to the lowest point. And doesn’t have a clue how to rise. It’s a spiritual “Cinderella story”. God chooses the ugly ducklings and makes them His shining treasures of beauty. The last becomes the first. And the losers become the winners.

So be encouraged today, you losers!

Take heart, you misfits!

Have hope, you untalented, unloved, despised, uncouth, lower-class rejects!

There is a day coming when all I have written in this article will come to pass. You’ll see. Read this scripture twice:

“He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump. He sets them among nobles, placing them in seats of honor. For all the earth is the LORD’s, and he has set the world in order.” 1 Sam 2:8

Why did God choose you?

He believes in you more than you believe in yourself. And He is going to show you what a genius potter can do with a cold, hard lump of clay. He will turn you into a work of art so dazzling it will shame everything in the Louvre.

I believe that once we grasp this counter-cultural premise, we will be able to stop self-sabotaging and doubting ourselves, and nestle into the warm embrace of God.

It’s what He wanted all along.

Thank you for reading this. Remember that fire on the beach I mentioned?