“Paper or plastic?” Does anybody know what that means? Have you been asked that question 50 times or more by a grocery clerk? Some of us remember a time when you sacked groceries in big brown paper bags. They were awkward to carry and tore easily if your food poked through or they got wet. I remember using them to carry my lunch to school. [I ate really big lunches when I was in school.] We used paper bags to start the fireplace. I don’t ever remember throwing any paper bags away. We had a drawer in the kitchen where you could always find some.
When plastic bags were first introduced as an alternative, the sacker would ask if you wanted paper or plastic. Your choice would be based on some reason why you believed one was better than the other. That was your choice for many years until finally the plastic bags replaced paper for good, at least in my world. It’s been a long time since I have seen paper bags used to sack groceries, although I would not be surprised to discover someone is still using them somewhere.
Being chosen may not have made the bags feel anymore special, but it makes people feel special when they are chosen or selected for a purpose. John 15:16 says,
You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.
Jesus chose us. He CHOSE us and then APPOINTED us for bearing fruit. Bearing fruit means we reproduce Jesus in our own lives and in the lives of others. We are chosen to bear the kind of fruit that will last. The “Jesus” we plant in the lives of others is going to last them beyond this life. We are chosen to have Jesus in us and to share Him with others.
