I am whom I am today because of whom Christ is every day. I am nothing particularly wonderful, of my own worth. Throughout my life, I have been a selfish person.
I grew up learning to acquire my own desires, looking out for myself before others, and most often just seeing my own needs while ignoring the needs of others. So, you can see that I was not a good man. I was not someone who would give of myself for the needs of others. I was not chosen because of my worth.
I might tell you my story in a few short sentences.
I might say: One day, God looked out over the world and said, I think I will make something worthless beautiful, today. And God put His hand down into the slimy part of humanity, brought me up, and cleaned me and made me useful and beautiful.
God chose me because I needed Him, not because He needed me. God could have left me in the condition I was and still accomplished His purpose. God chose me to be one of His children because God loves all people.
There is power in prayer. I did not know, but my mother prayed for me every night. Prayer works. I am here because my mother, showing God's love, prayed for me.
I was going through a rough time. My girlfriend had dumped me, I had no job, and my life had no purpose. I was living a sad existence devoted to trying to please myself. And do you know? I wasn't happy. I didn't know, but I needed God. I did not find God at a church service. I wasn't going to church. I didn't meet God in a brush with death. The only danger I faced was Hell.
God meets us where we are. Over a period of months, God showed me that I was not sufficient to meet my own needs. I needed God. He met me where I was. And one night, I accepted His gift: for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. God so loved me, unworthy as I was, that He gave His only begotten Son, and I believe in Him, and I shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.
I am a new creation. No more do I ignore the needs of others. Now, I help where I can. No more do I push others aside to gain my own pleasures. Now, I let others go, and I wait my turn. No more do I seek self-serving ends. Now, I seek to serve God.
I am not what I am today because I was good. I am what I am today because, even though I do not deserve it, God has extended His grace and love to all the world, even to one such as I. Because of God's love, my life has a purpose. God is loving and just and holy.
I am whom I am today because of whom God is every day.