Why Is This Granted To Me?

The apostle Paul taught that faith itself was a marvelous gift! He used the example of Abraham who had no possible reason to boast before God. As the father of the faith, Abraham is the example to all who believe and consequentially can boast of nothing of themselves. Throughout time, anyone with faith must stand in wonder and surprise that such a gift has been granted.

A good way to remember this truth is with a latin phrase “Unde hoc mihi?”

Unde hoc mihi? is a inquisitive latin phrase that when translated from the Vulgate in the initial words Luke 1:43 reads,

“And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

C.S. Lewis craftily utilized the question to talk of his imagination being baptized:

“I saw the common things drawn into the bright shadow. Unde hoc mihi? In the depth of my disgraces, in the then invincible ignorance of my intellect, all this was given me without asking, even without consent. That night my imagination was, in a certain sense, baptised.” (Surprised by Joy).

The whole experience of Christian joy is one that inquires: Why is this granted to me? And that inquiry can more than tip-toe to the wonderful realization of God’s graces in contrast to our awful disgraces.

It is like the moon borrowing its light from the sun. It is natural for wherever the supernatural has taken place to wonder. Why does the moon receive light from the sun? Because the moon is in the sky.

And so everyone who is by grace seated with Christ the heavens has the light of the Son, and can inquire with humility and joy, “Why is this granted to me?”

There is no room for boasting before God or others in this matter. The duty of ours is similar to that of the moon, to light up the night with wonder for the glory of the Son.

We see it in Abraham who gazed at the stars of promise. We see it in Paul who laying aside his works sought after the upward call of God. We see it in Luther who experienced headstands of joy over a God of love. When it comes to this thing called the Christian experience, Miroslav Volf puts it well in saying, “Any claim to have worked oneself into a superior religious or moral status is a self-inflating falsehood.”¹ The proper response is that of Elizabeth as recorded in Luke’s gospel, “Why is this been granted to me?”

As I finished up this little post, the lights went out in my home. Electricity is out for three hours due to a light pole being changed out in our neighborhood. I thought, easier said than done—all that I wrote. “Shine in the darkness” you say? It can’t be done … by us. The fact is that we lack the power and energy to do any of this, and so, I find it appropriate to end this little reflection with a reminder that we don’t need a one time experience of grace, but “graces” or grace every day. We need the Son to rise in our hearts at the start. We need to be in a habit of prayer and reading of Scripture and reflection upon it. Nonetheless, whenever that power from on high does come to us like Elizabeth experienced, we cannot boast in those disciplines (for there are plenty of people more disciplined than we are) but we can only say in wonder the same words, “Why is this been granted to me?”

1. The Cost of Ambition, 119.