What a Difference?

DateLine (5/8/07 – Nanuet, NY)

I’m not sure if the thought was triggered by something said on the Christian radio that I was listening to or simply a serendipitous event of my morning commute. For some reason the question came to mind, “what difference has God made in my life.” This coming July I will have been a Christian for 36 years. I received the unmerited gift of eternal life when I was 16 years old in July of 1971. At the time of my conversion I was dangerously near the age where the probability of such an event was in freefall. But here I am almost four decades later a convert. What difference has it made? The gravity of the thought momentarily stunned me.

My first inclination was to consider what I had offered to God in response to His gift to me. This is an important question because God tells us via scripture is that His children (which is what we become at conversion) do have accountability to Him for our thinking and our actions. Unfortunately as I contemplated my response a sense of grief overwhelmed me as I realized that although I could see a clear difference in my life’s direction pre and post conversion it seemed so miniscule in comparison to God’s provision to me as His child. What do I mean by that? My conversion has not been about what I’m doing for God, although I do pray that God has found me of use to Him.

My grief seemed fleeting as my focus shifted to what God has done for me. Now the gift of eternal life with Him is a given here, it’s the more pragmatic impact of God in my life that awed me as I reflected.

As a child of God I have received:

• Peace of mind – I do not have a worry about my long term future – I will survive eternally with Him in what He has described as a perfect existence.
• Strength – I have a constant friend to lean on – if I have learned one thing in life it’s that life is hard – I can’t imagine having to endure the normal twists of life without His help.
• Perspective – God is the “measuring stick” by which I can evaluate and separate the trivial from the priorities
• Direction for life - God is like a lighthouse piercing the fog to guide the ship past the hidden dangers of a jagged shore.
• Sense of Purpose / Empowerment – a primal need for humans is to derive purpose from their existence – my relationship with God joins me with something bigger than me giving me eternal significance.
• Enriched relationships – God’s relationship with me teaches me how to relate to others – this is not limited to family relationships, it extends to the camaraderie of co-laborers in the church.
• Contentment – deep within me is a peaceful core, the very presence of God.
• Protection – nothing can touch me without passing the Sentry of my soul, God Himself.

I cannot imagine what the last 36 years would have been like without God. What a difference. Although insufficient, all I have to offer is a heartfelt thank you. Why would anyone want to go through life without Him? We’ve got to share the news. God is good.