Irreplaceable You
GOD HAS DESIGNED YOU WITH A SPECIFIC PURPOSE.
When God designed irreplaceable you, He picked everything about you. Every single thing. God actually knit you together. (See Psalm 139:13). Knit as in hand-on-hand, stitch-by-stitch, every piece deliberately chosen. (It’s probably not a coincidence that DNA looks like strands of twisted yarn.) Your hair color? Hand-picked. Your height? By design. But it’s not just your physical appearance that God strategically chose. He also wove in your specific talents and abilities. Your strengths and weaknesses. He even picked the family that you live in (He also knew that some would be challenging!). And the town. And the time in the story of humanity in which you’d be born.
God has given you specific gifts for the specific time and place you’re in. Why? Because He has a very important purpose for you—a role that only you can fill.
Years ago, God introduced Himself to Moses and clearly told Moses his purpose—he was to lead God’s people out of captivity in Egypt to freedom (Exodus 3–4).
Like Moses and the people of Israel, we live in a captive world. God tells us in Genesis how it got that way. God had given Adam and Eve authority, but by disobeying God, they chose to follow Satan and surrendered that authority to him. When the world was under God’s authority—before the fall—it was filled with the goodness of God’s character—love, wholeness, joy, peace, kindness, and justice. But now, the whole world is under the control of the evil one (1 John 5:19). And it’s filled with the trademarks of its current master, Satan—hatred, pain, insecurity, loneliness, injustice, fear, sickness, and shame. We live in a broken, hurting world.
Like Moses, we have a great purpose—a destiny. We, as Jesus-followers, are to go about reclaiming the territory of our lives for God’s Kingdom. Where there are scars and rifts and need, we are to help. Where there’s conflict, we are to make peace. Where there’s brokenness, we are to heal. We are to help the hurting, lonely, broken people of the world see and feel the God who loves them so deeply. We are to help the world look more like God’s Kingdom.
Years ago, in the desert at the foot of what would be known as Mount Sinai, God told Moses his purpose. The lowly shepherd was to confront the most powerful man on the planet, the Pharaoh, and to lead millions of God’s people out of slavery to freedom. Moses was terrified. In response to Moses’ fear, God asked him: “What is that in your hand?” (Exodus 4:2). God was asking him to show Him what he had—to show Him his gifts. All Moses had was a staff, but that’s all that God wanted. Moses surrendered his staff to God and with that staff, God ushered in plagues, parted seas, and freed His captive people. Moses surrendered his gifts and walked with God. And through Moses, God made the world look more like HIs Kingdom.
Like Moses, you have been called for such a time as this. You have been made—handcrafted—in God’s image for a specific purpose. He gave you specific gifts to help you reflect who He is to the world.
Today, you will run into various people on the path of life. You were chosen to, and only you can love them in the unique way God has gifted you. You are handmade—knit, woven, and wired—to show people a very specific part of who God is. As you surrender all you have and all you are to your great King, and as you follow His lead to use your gifts to show His love, you’ll find the deepest joy you’ve ever known. You’ll get to be a part of amazing things. Not necessarily the kinds of things that will make people on earth stand up and cheer, but Kingdom things. Mind-boggling things. The- angels-are-on-their-feet kinds of things.
Like Moses, you’ve been specifically gifted for a massive mission. And like Moses, you do not go it alone. God is with you, child of the King. Surrender all of who you are to Him, and be prepared as He walks with you through the most amazing adventures.