Because God is Love.

So tonight I got to spend some time with one of the most precious people I know, my friend Bethany. (The worst thing about college so far is that there are some awesome people who I do not get to spend nearly enough time with!) We just had a great time of catching up and sharing what God is teaching us, and through our discussion this question stirred in my heart, "God, what were you thinking?" I could ask this question pertaining to a myriad of subjects but what I am specifically referring to is his name. When we accept Christ as our Savior the bible says we are adopted into his family as sons and daughters (1 John 3:1), so if we are his children, we carry his name. The bible also says that we are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). So we are created in his image and called by his name. That blows my mind.
Why would God choose imperfect beings to attempt to reflect his perfection?
We are created in his image. Even people who proclaim themselves atheists are created in the image of God. There is no option; we cannot go back and uncreate ourselves. But we choose to be called a child of God. By his mercy and grace, He marks us with his name. So when we take his name, we have two options: we can either point people back to God or point people away from him.
What a huge responsibility for such fickle creatures!
Peter said as aliens and strangers in the world, we are to abstain from sinful desires that war against our soul. (1 Peter 2:11) So Christ lets people who are constantly in the middle of their own personal war zone, wear his name. But there is the beauty of it. Because when we wear his name, we surrender ourselves to be worked on little by little. When we wear his name we are marking ourselves. Firstly, by taking his name we give Christ permission to chase us, break us, teach us, mold us, and a whole lot of other actions that are not easy to undergo.Secondly, when we call ourselves christians we have a responsibility to our fellow brothers and sisters. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul illustrates the body of Christ and stresses how important our relationship to one another is. He even declares that within the body there should be unity and that we should have equal concern for one another (v.25). Lastly, when we call ourselves christians we offer our lives as a demonstration of the saving, transforming love of Christ to be scruntinized and analyzed so that people might see the power and glory of the living God.
What was God thinking, that he would choose me?

Posted in: on Thursday, May 14, 2009 at at 10:45 PM