Steve Shank: Why Me?

Why did God choose you? It wasn’t because you showed potential. It wasn’t because your parents presented you to God at the altar while you were an infant. It wasn’t because you frantically cried out for help from under the garbage of your sinful life, nor was it a reward for anything you had done. In fact, God chose you before you or anyone else influenced his decision in any way. Scripture says God “saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time…” (2 Timothy 1:8-9).

It would be nice to think our own wisdom or insight caused us to follow Christ, but it just isn’t true. “As it is written, ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God’” (Romans 3:10-11). Human hearts don’t naturally seek God or submit to him. Quite the opposite. So even though it may be a little hard to swallow, please understand: your longing to know God and be reconciled to him didn’t originate in your own heart. It originated with God. It is wonderful evidence that he had chosen you and pursued you, long before you even thought of searching for him.

In his infinite mercy, God chose you for himself and set in motion the events leading to your conversion. As Jesus said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). Allow your mind to bask in the truth that before time began, the Sovereign God of the universe graciously hand-picked you to be one of his children.

Source of quote: http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/pdf/books/fsof_ch1.pdf