Kris Kristofferson had reason to ask such a profound question. Packed into it is the sense that he found a treasure that rightfully belongs to someone else.
He came from a military family and became an Army officer himself, a helicopter pilot. In 1965 after achieving the rank of captain, he turned down an instructor position at West Point. He moved to Nashville and accepted a job as a janitor at Columbia Studios. His family promptly disowned him.
Kristofferson began to have some success as a songwriter, but his career took off when Johnny Cash noticed him. He was hard to overlook when he landed a helicopter in Cash’s front yard! But as with many artists, success led to hard living and self-medication.
During those years, Kristofferson penned the song, “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down.” “Well I woke up Sunday morning with no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt. I’d smoked my brain the night before with cigarettes and songs. On the Sunday morning sidewalk wishing lord that I was stoned, cause there’s something in a Sunday that makes a body feel alone.” It was a ballad of a hurting and lonely life.
But one Sunday morning was different. In 1971, while driving back from a concert with singer Connie Smith, he agreed to attend church services. Evangel Temple is where Smith, Johnny Cash, Larry Gatlin and other artists attended. Smith recalled, “He hadn’t been in church for 20 years.” Rev. Jimmy Snow offered the invitation to receive Christ Jesus as Savior. Kristofferson said, “I remember thinking, that’ll be the day. Then I found myself walking down front to kneel down. I was weeping. It was an experience unlike anything I had gone through before.”
That night, he had a new song. “Why me Lord, what did I ever do that was worth loving you or the kindness you’ve shown? Lord help me Jesus, I’ve wasted it so, help me Jesus! I know what I am, my soul’s in your hand.” He knew he did not deserve the gift of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Does the Bible answer the question, “Why me?” Indirectly. It’s more about God than you. “We were by nature children of wrath…But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ…and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:3-7). How sublime is God’s love, mercy, and grace for you!
So God rescues you, makes you more alive than you have ever been, and continues that kindness “in the ages to come.” That raises a better question. Why not you?