our deepest identity

Jesus chose Saul, a persecutor of the church to carry the gospel. He took one who was persecuting him and those that Jesus loved and made him a chosen instrument. If he chose Saul, it follows that he has chosen us as well, though we persecute him just as Saul did. I imagine jesus says something like this to you and to me:

You are chosen. You are broken beyond belief and you are chosen to carry my name. There is nothing you did to make you worthy to carry my name. There is nothing you will ever do to make you worthy to carry my name. You did everything to make you not able to carry my name. You excluded yourself from ever carrying my name. But I have chosen you to carry my Name. Chosen you. Chosen. 

That is your identity. Beyond anything else. Beyond any success, any failure, in prestige, any sin. We're chosen. That was our name before our parents named us. Our name woven into us when his hands formed us in the depths. The name written on his heart for each of us when the world was formed, when sin came crashing, the last thought Christ had...it your face that gave the courage to go to the cross and it is his face that gives us the courage to go. 

Chosen to carry the unsearchable riches of Christ to every human being. Entrusted with people, the very beloved of God himself. Why in the world would he entrust us with something so important? We'll never know. But we can know that we are chosen and that we are loved.