Why am I a Christian?

I am a Christian – not because I have all the answers. I don’t think I know it all. I have studied as hard as I can - I have degrees from two universities to prove it – but I still have lots of questions. I am still learning.

I’m not claiming to be better than anyone else. I’m not bragging. I’m admitting I have failed in lots of things in life, and I can’t ever make up for the debt I owe to others or to God.

I’m not claiming to be perfect. I’ve got a long way to go! I’ve got lots of faults – just ask my children! I know some things that need to change – the rest I still need to be humbly taught.

I’m not in myself an especially strong character. It’s not that I relish standing out from the crowd because of my faith. But I do that when it is right.

By contrast, I am not especially ‘needy’. I’ve been hurt really badly in life and I still feel the pain of heartache. But I’m fine. I know that when I pray God gives me the strength I need to carry on.

I’m not judging anybody else. I know I need forgiveness as much as anyone – but I know God loves me and that is very special!

I don’t say I am a Christian to blow my own trumpet. It’s more an expression of the fact that I know I need God to be my guide through life, and I have found He will never let me down - even when life is tough.

I still have questions: I don’t know why God has allowed this pandemic. I don’t know why He allows any of the suffering we see in the world. But, I know Jesus himself suffered unjustly, and that He understands these things even if I do not.

You might say that for me being a Christian is a profession. But God found me way before I started working for the church. He reached out to me – not because I grew up in a Christian family, but because of what Jesus had already done. I knew the history - that he lived and died and rose again – these are facts from the pages off history – but I found that they still mattered even across the centuries. You could say He found me, and I found His love. That is why I am a Christian!

Revd Duncan Carter

Vicar, Holy Trinity Church