I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah 1:5
One of the most powerful forces in our world is competition. And as a hopeless competitor from the time I was a small boy, I admit to being a participant in a sport called the game of life.
My parents, my siblings, my wife, my children, and my grandchildren will corroborate what I’m about to tell you. All my life I have made a game out of everything. When my mother asked me to ride my bike to the store for her, I’d ask her to time me so I could challenge my personal best grocery run. When playing touch football in the backyard with my brothers, the only thing that mattered was who won or lost, not how we played the game. And my wife and children will tell you that guessing how many gallons it would take to fill the family car’s gas tank or the number of passing railroad cars while we waited at the signal were just two of the countless made-up games we played when they were small and riding along. Nancy asks me to guess about almost anything, like just the other day she asked me to guess how many guest rooms I thought there were at the Gaylord Hotel in Dallas, and I nailed it. Exactly. Every single morning when I step on the bathroom scales, I guess the precise number. My day is off to a good start when I hit it on the nose. Today I was a winner.
Competition helps me be at my best. It keeps me from slowing down, even when I’m tired. It drives me to excel in every area.
But there is one dimension of my life—and yours—in which there is no need for competition. The text we read today provides a clue for the one area of our lives that goes uncontested by anything or anyone.
Jeremiah was recalling what he heard God say to him. We don’t know when or how these words were delivered, but Jeremiah presents them to us as forthrightly as if they were sent in hard copy by a celestial courier: “I set you apart before you were born” (v. 5). In other words, God was saying to this prophet, “You’re a one-of- a-kind, Jeremiah. I have no templates, no stencils. You can look around all you want, but you’re the only man who is just like you.”
Please do not miss this spellbinding truth: there is no competition in God’s plan for you and me. What He calls us to be and what He calls us to do have our fingerprints all over them. This call belongs to no one else.
Does this mean that before my parents had ever met God had a specific work for me to accomplish? Yes, it does. And does this mean that when people try to coerce me into walking a certain way because it’s what someone else did I should graciously challenge them? Yes, it does. And does this mean that if I want to discover the greatest joy in living I need to take my focus away from others and tenaciously seek God’s singular direction for me? Again, the answer is in the affirmative.
Jeremiah’s appointment was to be a prophet. If he had stooped to be a mighty king, he would have lived with deep regret. What has God called you to? Whatever it is, it’s all yours. There’s no winning or losing in this game. Only obedience.