I cannot close this discussion on "What It Is to Be a Christian," without going one step further. In the previous six chapters we have been thinking about the necessary ingredients of the Christian Life: Faith, Obedience, Moral Commitment, Caring, The Abundant Life, and The Assurance of Life After Death. But now it comes to me that I did not in my own life discover and work out these great qualities of living mathematically, mechanically, or by a sheer intellectual approach. Something happened to me! Then all of this came to life and now has eternal meaning.

Therefore, in this chapter I want us to look at the mystery and the miracle of how the Christian life comes into being. It is something that God does to a person when that person is ready to accept God. It is the living Christ moving …