Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

This Thursday, the NFL draft will take place in Detroit, Michigan. Fans of the thirty-two teams are brimming with excitement over the possibilities of adding new young talent. Talent that hopefully will make their favorite team better, both now and years to come.

According to the NFL website…
In the US, there are just over a million players at the high school level. Of those, 73,712 make it to the NCAA level, representing just 7.3% of the talent pool. At any one time, just over 16,000 are draft eligible, which is only 1.6% of that college player pool. And then only 257 players will be chosen.

These facts inspired this week’s focus of being chosen by God. Today, we’ll begin with Jesus’ words, that…
“For many are called, but few are chosen.” – Matthew 22:14 NLT

Consider…
Jesus’ statement in today’s scripture, followed the parable likening the Kingdom of Heaven to a wedding feast. (Matthew 22:1-9). In the story, we’re told…

• The King (God the Father) prepared a banquet for His Son (Jesus Christ)
• A chosen few (God’s chosen people, the Jews) were invited
• The invited guests refused to come
• The King was angry and unleashed His wrath on the guests that refused His invitation
• The King then pivoted and extended the invitation to everyone else (the non-jews)

Here’s, where the story gets even more interesting. Matthew 22:10‭-‬13 (NLT), which precedes today’s verse, says…
So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn’t wearing the proper clothes for a wedding. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how is it that you are here without wedding clothes?’ But the man had no reply. Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be seaweeping and gnashing of teeth.’

This tells us, we can’t enter God’s Kingdom just any type of way. That we must come properly dressed. Romans 13:11‭-‬14 (NLT), explains what proper Kingdom attire is…
This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living. Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, CLOTHE YOURSELF WITH THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.

Colossians 3:10 (NLT) also exhorts
us to…
Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.

This tells me that when Jesus said “many are called, but few are chosen”, He was saying only those who are covered by me can enter my Father’s Kingdom.

The Apostle Paul clarified this understanding in Romans 8:29‭-‬30 (NLT), when he wrote…
For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.

Today’s message is simply this…
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM should not perish, but have everlasting life. – John 3:16 KJV

Everyone is invited to God’s Eternal Kingdom, but only those few who choose to put on Jesus Christ, as Lord and Savior, will be chosen to enter in.

Today’s Song…
Clothed With Christ

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)