The Divine Draw: Why Some Believed and Others Didn't - And What It Means for Us
1Top o' the Mornin' to Ya!
TLDR: Discover the profound truth about God's drawing power and human choice through the lens of why the Jews couldn't all believe in Jesus. Learn how God's plan required both believers and skeptics, and understand the two-way nature of being "drawn" to God - He draws us, but we must choose to be drawn to complete our salvation.
What?
At Bible study this morning, one of the men pointed out that the Jews could not all believe. We were reading in John 4 about Jesus talking to a bunch of the Jews surrounding him. And they said, "Well, you're just the son of Mary and Joseph." Thirty years later, they lost complete track of the Christmas story.
That caught my ear during Bible study this morning until Mark said something that blew my mind: "If all the Jews totally believed in Jesus, they would've never crucified him. They would've never had a disagreement, they would've never gone through the plan that God had in store for them...for me...for you."
Jesus was born in a celebration with the shepherds and the wise men - the Christmas story. But then Jesus' family appears to have turned into a "normal" three-person family. When Herod wanted to kill Jesus, they took off to Egypt, came back, and through all that, the obscurity of just another Jewish family kind of envelops the family story there until His time had come, until He turned the water into wine and revealed His glory.
If the Jews would've grasped onto "this is the Savior," they would've kept him to themselves and he wouldn't have been so revealed to the world, wouldn't have been crucified, and we wouldn't all be saved. That is God's plan.
Why?
This experience revealed something crucial about God's sovereignty and human responsibility. God draws those to him that are to be saved. By having that division in what I'll call the Church of Jews, they crucified him. And that saved us - all of us whether or not we are Jewish by heritage.
Had they absorbed and believed and grasped onto Jesus as the Savior, we wouldn't have the salvation story we know today. God's plan required both believers and skeptics to fulfill the ultimate purpose of salvation for all mankind.
This made me wonder: does God only draw some people and not all people? But then I realized it's not like drawing cards from a deck. When you draw a card, you are the one doing the drawing - you're receiving the card, you do the drawing.
Lesson
Same with God. By holding up those cards, He is drawing us to Him. So "draw" is a two-way action. His drawing us to Him - showing us Himself, showing us His glory, showing us His awesome power, showing us His story, sharing with us creation, all this stuff out here (holding up the cards and encouraging us to draw) - and we are drawn to Him, but yet we have to do the drawing. We have to complete it (we have to take a card).
We're drawn to Him, but it's easy for us to turn and go the other way. Kind of like yesterday's story - he will guard our hearts and minds when we invite him to do so. We're gonna keep following that thing temptation or distraction if we don't choose Him. When we choose Him, He guards our hearts and minds.
He draws us, but we have that choice to do our part of the drawing. It's a two-action word: "drawn." I draw you and you choose to be drawn. God draws us and we choose to be drawn to Him.
The revelation was mind-blowing: if all the Jews were happy and content and faithful and believed, if Jesus was always front stage, God's plan for universal salvation wouldn't have unfolded. The obscurity of Jesus' early life, the mixed reception he received, the division among the people - all of this was part of God's perfect plan to reveal Himself not just to one chosen people, but to the entire world.
Apply
So please be drawn to God through Jesus Christ - that's the whole story. Just be drawn to God through Jesus Christ.
Reflect on this: How is God drawing you to Him right now? What is He showing you of His glory, His power, His creation, His story that's meant to draw you closer? Write down in the Doobly Doo below one specific way you sense God drawing you today and how you're choosing to respond to that draw.
Consider the two-way nature of this relationship: God is constantly drawing you through His Word, His creation, His people, His Spirit. But you have the choice to complete the drawing by moving toward Him. What step will you take today to do your part of the drawing?
Remember, even the skepticism and unbelief around you may be part of God's larger plan to reveal Himself more broadly. How can you be part of His drawing others to Himself through your own response to His call?
You be blessed!
If you want to explore more deeply how God is drawing you as a Kingdom Family Leader and how to respond faithfully to His call in your marriage, family, and leadership, head to https://brian.chat/ and let's have a conversation about your spiritual growth and calling.
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