Taken

The Making of A Priest

Recently, I was pondering a thought about how God chooses us. As I followed the thought, it brought me to the Fifth chapter of Hebrews. The writer was dealing with the high priest ministry of Jesus Christ and he was laying some foundations for the basis of Jesus’ ministry.

However, I intend to explore just one of those parameters.

For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things about God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:

Hebrews 5:1 (KJV)

The opening statement is what I intend to bring to our attention: for every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men.

A few thoughts are worthy of our attention:

First; You are ordained for the people you are taken out from. The word ‘taken’ paints a picture of a choice made without consultation with the one taken. It is a sovereign choice made because of the end that God has in mind concerning a particular space or people.
Notice this trend in the scriptures; whenever God intends to rescue or bring aid to His people, He most often ends up using someone from within their midst.

Second; You are taken from the people you are ordained for. It’s like the reverse of the first point. The implication here is that you can’t remain a part of a people that you are called to reach. There has to be a work of God in first extracting you from that space so that, whilst you might look like them or generally have the same description as they do, God has done something in and with you that He can now use as a template for that which He intends to do in their lives or in that space.

Third; Whilst our ordination is for men, it is not unto men. It is for men. But it is unto God. It is in things about God. This is, for example, the difference between Social service and Christian Ministry, especially the ministries of Help and Mercy. On the outward, they might look similar or engage similar actions, but the former is unto men, whilst the latter, though for men, is chiefly unto God.

Consider who you are, where you are, and the experiences and paths that have brought you here. It could be possible that things have gone the way they have because God intends to make a priest out of you, to be able to bring the things that pertain to Him in that space or to that group of people.

In God, your experiences are not a waste; they just might be the raw materials of your ordination.

The question is this; can God take you?