Mission: Accomplished - Galatians 1:24

And they glorified God in me. - Galatians 1:24

    We often hear the stories of lost souls wondering, pondering, the “why” of their existence here in this life. I refer to these unfortunate folks as lost in the sense that they are seeking the answer to a question which for all intents and purposes should be readily available to them. If they but knew where to look. This is the part where we Christians come in.
    When Paul wrote Galatians, near the end of the first chapter he spoke of his former self - a persecutor of Christians. He was a man known and feared by the fledgling Christian community. So much so that when news of his conversion came to them they glorified God for His grace that Paul was the recipient of. They knew that the effectual grace God had bestowed upon Paul had changed his life. As a result of what these Christians saw in Paul they fulfilled one of the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith: they glorified God! (WLC: - Q.1) But then how does this answer the seeker’s question, “Why am I here?”
    As Christians, are we living examples to those unbelievers around us? When they see us do they immediately recognize that we are “different” either from the world around us or from our former selves, for those who knew us before we enjoyed the grace of God? Let us look again at Paul’s admission - “And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ.  But they were hearing only, ‘He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.’” - Galatians 1:22-23. And they glorified God! Paul’s “new man” was so convincing that even the Christians he once persecuted glorified God because of the change in him. Do others watching our lives feel so inspired by us that they glorify God because of what they see? If not - why not?
     “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” - Galatians 5:22-23. If we are exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit in our lives both those who believe and those who have yet to believe will know that we are different. And that difference just might answer the question of  why we are here: we are here to glorify our heavenly Father.