Drawn to Grace
By Timothy Lamb
John 6:43-45 “ Jesus answered and said to them…” No one can come to Me
unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on
the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be
taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father,
comes to Me.”
I met a woman recently, just in passing, who was concerned about the
direction of the world, much as we all are. I agreed with her
assessment to a point and then remarked that my hope lay in the life
to come and I was pleased when she agreed with me. But things weren’t
all that they appeared. As she shared her hope for life beyond the
grave it wasn’t a Biblical perspective at all but something gleaned
from a book on Spiritualism. She had no fear of death because in her
deceived spirit she liked what she had found.
I encouraged her to look at the description of heaven in the Bible to
understand eternal life but she cared nothing for the scriptures
saying she’d heard what the Bible and Quran had to say, but her
favorite was something on eastern religions…it saddened me to hear
this but I had no more words for this woman – she needed the Holy
Spirit; she needed to be “Drawn” by God.
Too often men go looking for God finding only what the blind eyes can
see. In the darkness they grope and cling to anything that comforts –
even lies – and because this is what their hearts desire they no
longer know or care what truth is.
We need to recognize the deception and stop looking for, and working
with, choices and simply say “Father in Heaven, draw me!” Like the
young lover in the Song of Solomon 1:4, we should cry out “Draw me
after you…”
Our best act of witnessing for Jesus is to no avail if that person is
not first being “Drawn” unto Him by the Father. If we have lost
loved-ones, grasping in the darkness, the place to start is to pray
that the Father draw them.
John 12:32 “I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to
Myself.”
In the spirit of the Trinity Jesus also proclaims that the Father uses
Him to draw men to salvation. We find in Romans one that God draws
men by the revelation of creation. We find in John one that God draws
men by the Word, which is Christ Jesus. And John six informs us that
by the teaching of the Father men come to Christ. So men are drawn by
the Father, to the son, and by the Son to the Father no one being able
to know one and not the other.
It brings such peace to realize that we needn’t struggle alone against
the forces of darkness because we are not pushing through except that
God is pulling (drawing) us unto light.
To be honest I can’t say I truly understand what it all means
sometimes. Some say that to be drawn is to be coaxed or invited or
lured, while others claim “to draw” is to DRAG FORCIBLY! One thing I
am convinced of is that this means ALL men feel the tugging at our
souls. All man-kind has been drawn and has either learned and come
into the grip of the Father and our Savior Jesus Christ, or they have
rejected Him. All have felt the “drawing” of God and, if heeded, have
been given more.
A missionary hears a call to serve someplace in the world because a
people have responded to being drawn by the Father. A Christian feels
the strong need to speak to a stranger because right at that moment
God is drawing. A tragic moment reminds us of our mortality - our
heart aches for the loss of love or life – life is in ruin and all our
labor is in vain; God is drawing and He will use whatever it takes.
When nothing makes sense God is drawing us to the only thing that can
make sense of it all, His Grace.
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