“God chooses the weak and the small. If God chooses you, it’s not a compliment.”

A professor of mine recently made the above statement. At first, my ego hurt; I believe I’ve been called to various things in my life, and I don’t like to think of myself as weak and small. But I quickly realized how sobering the message was: God chooses the weak and the small. God doesn’t need us, yet He longs for us. He desires us. He wants to pour his love upon us. No matter how strong or talented we are, God calls because He loves us, not because of what we can offer Him.

“The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Ps 51:17)

What the Lord wants in response to his free love offering is a humble heart—one that is willing and able to admit its brokenness. St. Paul writes, “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness” (2 Cor 11:30). The apostle continues by saying, “But (Jesus) said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me’” (2 Cor 12:9). Paul, like John the Baptist, understood that “(Jesus) must increase; I must decrease” (Jn 3:30).

It’s not about us. It’s about Jesus. It’s about the love shared between the Father and Son and how it is poured into this world through the Holy Spirit. The glory is all his. Praise God that He chooses the weak and the small to receive his love.

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