Picked Last on Purpose

Heyyyyy beautiful people and others. How are you doing? How have you been? ☺️ Hope all has been well with you as best as possible with all that is going on in the world. Me, I've been pretty good considering. I wanted to come and provide some encouragement to all of you who may have been feeling like the person “picked last”. Overlooked. Black sheep. Or etc.

After we have this conversation, I don't want to hear or see any of you walking around feeling or looking all gloomy. I'ma (yes. I'ma) need to see you walking around with your head held high and shoulders back. Got it? Good.

In 1 Corinthians 4:9, Paul states “ For I think that God has set forth us apostles last…” Little did Paul know, they were picked last “On purpose, for purpose”. Oftentimes when it comes to races or team activities most people feel rejected when they were the person to be picked last. Yet, with God, there is purpose in his picks.

I'm not sure if you've ever did sports, watch sports or etc, but when I was in highschool I ran track. Now I wasn't the fastest runner but I ran. 🏃🏿‍♀️😁 One of the things about meets is they have relay races. Typically four runners involved and the last runner is called the “anchor” ⚓. Follow me. When you heard that word, did you immediately think of being held down 👀? I typically do and it's fitting in a sense for this topic.

The anchor of the race is chosen as the last runner typically because they are one of the strongest on the team. They are the ones that can hold the team down (figuratively, ina ebonics type way) and pick up the slack to help secure the win for their team. Can you now see why the enemy would want to attack “the anchor”, the black sheep, the overlooked?! The enemy knows that when you're given the baton you'll take off full speed to complete the race.

It doesn't always feel good to be overlooked, rejected, feeling behind in life but with God he loves an underdog type setup.

Many people today are struggling to keep up with the “rat race” in America. Yet, they haven't given up their race despite the pressure being applied. Much like the apostles who had to endure so much for Christ they made sure they ran their race to win. As long as you have a team member that properly passes you the baton….your part can be completed smoothly.

Don't focus on who is running beside you, who left you along the way, or who didn't properly do their part. Just focus on running your race to the finish line.

The apostles went thru many things and much like Christ they also didn't have a definite dwellingplace. Sometimes the season you're running in calls you to let everything go. Yet despite what the apostles didn't have, they had Christ, they had faith, they had provision even in the midst of the different pressure and attacks they faced.

No, everyone is NOT called to be an apostle; but we all can learn how to “endure / suffer well” from their experience. We can also learn from their experience that it's not always a bad thing to be picked last. To anchor the race God has called us to run. For the last shall be first, and the first shall be last.