Why I am a Christian - John Stott

Why I am a Christian - John Stott

I was reading this book, when suddenly a phrase became so real to me, my heart melted, I could see myself in the book. The author was telling my story in his book. This phrase goes like this...

Why am I a Christian? Some readers will expect me to answer like... ... ... Others may expect me to reply something like this... ... ... That also is true, but it constitutes only one side of the truth... .. Why I am a Christian is due ultimately neither to the influence of my parents and teacher, nor to my own personal decision for Christ, but to "the Hound of Heaven". That is, it is due to Jesus Christ himself, who pursued me relentlessly even when I was running away from him in order to go my own way. And if it were not for the gracious pursuit of the Hound of Heaven I would today be on the scrap-heap of wasted and discarded lives.

How true it was. Over the years, I have been "blind" and yet, Jesus persistently "pursued" me. It is a pursuit, patient but purposeful, affectionate but relentless. It was as if He have been trying to win over my heart, even after my solid rejections. He never gave me up, until the point where I had no one to turn to - Jesus was still there for me. Who am I, that He should be so mindful of me?

When I read the Scripture, I found that, I was not the only one here. Many thousand years ago, King David have written: When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? (Psalm 8:3-4)

Who am I, that God, the Almighty Lord Jesus who created the heaven and the earth, should be mindful of me? That He should be a man, and die for my sins? Who am I that I am worth His life? Why did God not just let man perish in his sins? It was man's fault that sin came into this world, but why must Jesus pay the price for us?

Questions stormed my heart and created a turbulence that I could hear my heart sobbing in a feeling, which I could not describe. Then I heard a still, small voice... "Because I love you."

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16.

Jesus, I believe in you.