Handpicked | Your Identity, Your Responsibility & God’s Purpose
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In November last year, I wrote a blog titled The Hidden Hand of God, where we looked at how God works behind the scenes, orchestrating and arranging the details of our lives for His glory and our good, even when we cannot see Him.
We saw it so clearly in Esther’s story. She didn’t volunteer for the role of queen or enter a contest by choice. She was taken into the palace, placed in circumstances she had not chosen, but that God had divinely arranged. And though she didn’t understand it at the time, she had been positioned in a place of influence that would one day save countless lives.
But here is something else I’ve come to understand since writing that blog. Long before Esther was ever positioned, she was chosen. Before the threat arose, before Haman devised his plan, before anyone could see what God was doing, He had already handpicked Esther to be the one who would deliver His people. The hidden hand of God wasn’t just arranging her circumstances in the moment. It had chosen her for that very purpose all along.
And the same is true for you. But what does it actually mean to be handpicked?
Chosen With Care
The word handpicked describes something, or someone, that has been selected with care for a specific job. Chosen intentionally, and set apart for a specific purpose. So when we say that we are handpicked by God, we are saying that we have been carefully and intentionally chosen by God Himself, long before we were ever aware of it, for a purpose only we can fulfil.
And that truth speaks to three things: our identity, our responsibility, and God’s purpose. This month, I want us to look at each one.
“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.”
Your Identity
Many of us have battled with feeling like we don’t belong. Some of us have been abandoned by the very people who should have made us feel chosen. We have felt overlooked, rejected, disregarded, or ignored.
But that isn’t how it is supposed to be.
I wrote more about this in a previous blog, Identity in Christ, but in short, we were never created to carry those feelings. We were made in the image of God, carrying God-given value from the very start. It was sin that distorted all of this, separating us from God and leaving us searching for love, acceptance, and belonging in a world that was never able to give it. But the beautiful news is that our old identity is not where our story ends, because Jesus restores it all.
Ephesians 1:4 tells us that in Christ, we have been chosen by God. But it doesn’t just stop there. It says that He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. In other words, God did not choose us as an afterthought. He did not choose us based on our ability, our accolades, or what we are able to achieve for Him. Before He had even declared “Let there be light,” we were already chosen.
We see this same truth in Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.” Although these words were spoken directly to Jeremiah, they reveal something about God’s very nature. Jeremiah wasn’t chosen because of anything he possessed. He was young, with nothing to offer but his availability, yet he was still chosen.
We have to understand that, before we ever even think about God, He is already thinking about us. Yes, we each made the decision one day to give our lives to Christ. But underneath that decision, God’s hand was already at work in our hearts, opening our eyes, softening us, and creating in us the very desire to turn to Him. He places the right people in our life, arranges circumstances, and aligns things in such a way that we would eventually turn to Him.
As Jesus says in John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.”
Your Responsibility
Being chosen isn’t merely a privilege. It isn’t just a badge of honour that we get to wear. It is a commission and a calling for us to walk in.
Ephesians 1:4 goes on to say that He chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. Now, to be holy and blameless is not a call to perfection. It is not something we achieve. There is nothing we can do to make ourselves holy or without fault. It is something Christ does in us (2 Corinthians 5:21).
But although we cannot make ourselves holy, we are called to live worthy of that calling, in line with our identity as God’s holy people. In other words, as God’s chosen, we are called to walk in holiness.
Holiness isn’t a set of stringent rules and regulations for us to follow. It is less about our actions and more about our heart posture.
The word holy simply means set apart. It carries the idea of being set apart specifically for God’s use. Set apart from sin, set apart from the world, and making the daily decision to set ourselves apart so that God can use us for His purposes. I wrote more about what this looks like day to day in Living Holy in an Unholy Culture.
God’s Purpose
And that leads me to the final point: we are carefully chosen for a specific purpose, as part of God’s greater plan.
“In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.”
The word predestined is both important and beautiful. Being chosen isn’t random or accidental. It isn’t luck of the draw. It is predestined, according to God’s greater plan for mankind.
The best way to imagine it is this. Picture God holding a huge puzzle, one that holds His entire plan and purpose for humanity. And He has chosen you to be one of those many pieces. Not an extra. Not an afterthought. A piece the whole picture needs.
And His plan is simple. His Kingdom to come, and His will to be done. To save the lost, and to reconcile a lost world back to Himself. As Ephesians 1:10 says, to bring everything under the authority of Christ. And He wants to use each and every one of us to accomplish it.
Ephesians 2:10 puts it beautifully. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” The word used for workmanship is the Greek word poiema, which is where we get our word poem. It means a masterpiece, a work of art, something crafted with intention and care. That is what you are. Not an accident, not a random creation, but God’s handiwork. And notice that the good works were prepared beforehand. Before you ever arrived, God had already mapped out the specific things He created you to do. Your purpose was planned long before you got here, and He has been working to lead you right into it.
Final Thoughts
Sister in Christ, when the world tells you that you are overlooked, rejected, or that you don’t belong, stand firm in the truth of your identity in Christ. Remember that you are an image bearer of God, carrying God-given value. Remember that you were chosen before the creation of the world, not for what you could offer, but simply because He loved you and wanted you.
You are handpicked. You are chosen. And you have been set apart to bear fruit for the purpose and glory of God. 🤍