God Moments

“Never-stop-choosing”  Love

By Professor Rennae De Freitas

John 18.

I am with Jesus in the Garden of Betrayal. Judas with his money. Peter, with his lies of denial. And me with all of that and more. My words have betrayed Jesus. My money has betrayed Jesus. My actions have betrayed Jesus.

And to think that Jesus chose us all. He chose Judas. He chose Peter.

And He chooses me.

“Did not I choose you, the Twelve?” (John 6:70; see also 13:18.) The verb "to choose" is a keyword in Bible history. God chose Abraham and then chose Israel to become the chosen people. God’s choice or election forms God’s people, the people of the covenant. The covenant is unbreakable because God chooses to love Abraham and his descendants forever. The apostle Paul would comment on this: “God’s gifts and call are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29).

And the crazy thing is, I was chosen despite the potential for betrayal. Jesus knows we will betray him. He knew it about Judas and Peter, and He knows it about me. And yet he continues to choose me.

And I also know what it means to choose to love and be betrayed. I chose to reach out to help a young girl. She was 14 and pregnant. She had nowhere to go, so we took her in, and then just like Judas and Peter, she betrayed us. She abandoned us. She called me when she had her baby. I picked her up in a shack made for prostitution with pornography pinned to the walls. I was with her in the labor room at 3 am. I took her to the clinic, and we cared for her and watched that beautiful little baby come into the world. We surrounded her with joy and love. We offered her a home, food, and education. She rejected it all and chose the brothel.

I was devastated, and I was done. I wanted no more of the fight and walked away from a visit to that brothel that day, intending never to return. Then I heard Jesus, my Savior, one so familiar with betrayal and abandonment. He reminded me that he never stops choosing me, even when I betray him. And this time, He allowed me to demonstrate that “never-stop-choosing” love to a 14-year-old prostitute. And in my walking away, I fell to my knees. Totally and completely wrecked by his "never-stop-choosing" love and my opportunity to join him in that love. So I made a decision that day. It wasn’t based on emotion, reason, or desire. It was simply based on the love I experienced in Christ, so I kept on choosing.