I’m reading through Acts in my one-year Bible and I can’t get passed Matthias. He is only mentioned once in the Scripture. So he’s a mere footnote. But he is the twelfth apostle. He is the one who was chosen to replace Judas.

According to some traditions, he traveled as far as Ethiopia where he preached in “the city of the cannibals.” Maybe that is why I love him. Because I love Ethiopia. We’re actually sending forty-five NCCers to Ethiopia next month to help establish a ministry-center to an AIDS colony outside Addis Ababa. In a sense, they are following in the foot steps of Matthias!

But I love Matthias for another reason. Put yourself in his shoes. How would you feel if you weren’t chosen in the first round? If you didn’t make the first cut? Matthias was part of the larger group of disciples that followed Jesus, but he wasn’t originally chosen to be among the twelve. He was a second-round draft pick. He was on the practice squad. And that had to hurt a little. Could have produced some personal doubts or become a seed of bitterness. I know this is conjecture, but he could have walked away. He could have quit. If I’m not going to be on the A team I’m not going to play on the B team. But it’s a testament to Matthias that he continued to follow right up until the ascension of Christ. And that is what qualified him to be chosen by the eleven as number twelve.

This is what his life screams: stay faithful. If he had not remained faithful, he would have forfeited a future opportunity that he thought had already come and gone! Now let me speak a word of encouragement to those who feel like you missed the cut: the opportunity may come around again. Stay faithful. Ultimately, if you want to seize that future opportunity, you need to do exactly what Matthias did: keep following Christ!