God Wants You

Uncle Sam wants you!

 

When I was a teenager, with the United States engaged in the Vietnam War, these were words of concern. It meant you might be drafted. There was a draft lottery. Birthdays were randomly selected, and 18 year olds whose birthdays came sooner were more likely to be drafted than those whose birthdays came later. And this was televised in some years!

 

The draft ended before I turned 18, a sense of relief, perhaps. Had I been drafted I would have fulfilled my obligation.

 

Today’s reading is Ephesians 2:1-10. St. Paul addressed the Christians in Ephesus. He reminds them of their spiritual life. They were dead in their sins, but thanks be to God, rich in mercy he made them alive in Christ.

 

Paul continues, “…it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God’s workmanship,  created … to do good works.”

 

God chose the Ephesian Christians, and he chose me, too.

 

1500 years before Paul wrote, Moses documents the fact that God chose the Israelites  to be a “royal priesthood and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:3-6). God could have chosen the mighty Egyptians or the powerful Phoenicians or even the soon-to-be “thoughtful” Myceneans (predecessors to the Greeks in Athens). Instead, he chose a lowly tribal community.

 

Why did God choose the Israelites, the Christian Ephesians and I? We don’t know, but we do know that it pleased God to do so.

 

Like the Isrealites, I am undeserving and lowly. Yet I was chosen, “to do good works." What great joy!

 

 What are these good works? To love the Lord, to love my neighbor as myself and to make disciples of all nations. God called me through his church. Now that I am part of his church, I am priviledged to carry out his will through the church.

 

If Uncle Sam had called me, I would have gone, perhaps begrudging. When God called me, I went, not begrudgingly, but joyfully!