Why I Am A Christian

Being chosen is no small thing.

When you and I hear God saying, “Before I made the world, I loved you and chose you in Christ to be holy and without blame in my eyes,” how can we be anything but grateful and embrace that chosen-ness.

As a Christian I believe there is meaning and purpose behind my circumstances. In other words, being a Christian gives meaning and purpose to every facet of my life. Life for the Christian is not random.

II. I believe there is meaning behind my circumstances, Ephesians 3:1

“When I think of all this, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of you Gentiles…” Ephesians 3:1

When wrestling with finding meaning in our circumstances we may find it helpful to ask, “Why am I here? Why am I in this particular place at this particular time in my life?”

In that Epiphany is a time when we make note of the ways God has made Christ known in the world it is appropriate that we understand that one of the ways God makes Christ know in the world is through us. Where we are is one way God in Christ is everywhere! Where we are, Jesus is!

The Apostle Paul was literally a prisoner of the Roman Empire but he does not speak of the Roman Empire as being his incarcerator… he saw himself as a prisoner of Jesus Christ. He saw himself as being in the place God wanted him to be in order to accomplish his purposes through him. He saw his circumstances as part of the creating of a masterpiece-person whom God could use to do the good God had planned.

When St. Patrick was 16 years old a band of Irish marauders attacked his village along the English coastline. He was abducted, taken to Ireland where he was sold to a Druid tribal chieftain who made him care for a herd of pigs. And it was there in the squalor of pig filth that God worked in his life and he came to see that his kidnapping and homesickness were actually opportunities to know Christ better and he concluded that whether pleasant or distasteful he ought to accept what God was doing in his life.

After six years he escaped his earthly captors but eventually gathered sufficient resources to return to Ireland as a servant of Christ and spent his life to reaching the Irish for Christ.

Home alone all day with your children? Spending your working hours at a challenging job? Meeting with a client? Grinding out the semesters in a classroom? Sidelined for rehab? Shopping in the marketplace? The apostle Paul was in prison but he saw his present circumstances as critical to what God was doing through his life in the lives of others.

It is a solid affirmation of the proposition posed in Romans 8:28, “All things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purposes.”

Being a Christian means being a part of God’s plan for the world.

III. I believe in God’s plan for the world, Ephesians 3:2-6

“And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 3:6