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God Sketched Me, So I Am Safe
I ran into this verse the other day, “”No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:44)
Yes, I have come to Christ, although many times and many days I do not feel as though I am a Christian. Other times, I feel that I am such a bad person that I don’t know how God could possibly love me, and…am I really a Christian after all? This verse tackles those kinds of doubts with complete assurance in Christ.
Starting Point: Have I come to Christ? Yes, I have; it is a fact of my personal history that at a certain time and place I received Christ into my heart. And, Christ is my witness, because he was there.
Next, the verse tells me that I could not have received Christ in my heart on that occasion unless the Father had drawn me. Therefore, knowing that at one time in my life I did go to Christ and I did receive him, I know that the Father himself has drawn me.
We think of drawing as the physical or spiritual action of pulling someone towards themself. That is what the dictionary tells us for this verse. But on this occasion, I want to think of “drawing” as the homonym definition of drawing with a pencil on paper.
Copyright Jack Neubart
God created me; therefore, he did have a plan or design. And he fashioned me according to his design. Genesis tells us that God created us in his own image. Therefore, God gave me a shape and form that functions a bit like predestination. For example, if I were a potter and I threw a clay pitcher, it would be highly unlikely that my pitcher would spend its life being used as a plate. A life of pouring water–yes, but a life of carrying people around on its back as a donkey would–no.
So God drew me–he designed me–in a certain way, so that at the right moment in my life, when he was ready to draw me in the sense of pulling me towards himself, I was ready to be pulled. The verse tells me that my coming to Christ is only because God drew me in.
Well, proceeding, if my salvation is utterly dependent upon God from start to finish, then I know that I am secure, because God is God. He takes good care of his “stuff.” I am “stuff” that belongs to God, and I know that he will neither lose me, nor break me, nor toss me on the junk heap, nor abandon or otherwise destroy me. I belong to God, and he takes the best of care of what belongs to himself. So, my salvation is safe and secure in his hands.
The rest of the verse bears this out, because Christ promises to raise me up on the last day. And we all know that Jesus doesn’t lie.
I spoke here from my own point of view, and what I said is true for all Christians. May this verse bless and encourage you on what can at times be a difficult path. Know that you are safe and secure in the most capable hands of Father and Son.
Blessings of reassurance, joy, and peace!
A Living Polystrate Book
A most amazing thing about the Bible is how it remains unchanged and relevant through all the ages of worldview evolution–which is how people’s thinking about the world changes with the world itself.
The Bible sprang to life among the Ancient Near East cultures, when chaos and unpredictable gods governed people’s lives.
It flourished during the centuries when sophisticated Grecian philosophies dominated the thinking of the Mediterranean world.
It survived the Dark Ages when almost no one could read it nor had a copy of it even if they could.
It’s made it through the Enlightenment and is currently a best seller even in the multicultural, post-post modern world we live in.
Unchanged, unchanging, but changing the hearts of thousands and millions over the course of time.
What other book speaks so strongly?
He Is Our Peace
NIV Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Easter Dawn Begins to Glimmer
Disc or Cork?
The dawn of Easter is just gleaming above the horizon. While searching online concerning a different topic, I stumbled upon this question: Was the stone that sealed Jesus’s tomb a round disc or cork-shaped? Now those of you with Spirit fullness, just hush up please, and let me continue. In fact, you can tune out if you like–I don’t want you giving away my punch line.
Here is what the debate concerns: 
Some scholars say disc, and some say cork shaped.
I must confess that as a younger Christian, I always wondered about that stone that sealed Jesus’s tomb. In my mind, I imagined a great boulder shaped object, like an enormous marble, rolled against the opening of the tomb. It didn’t quite fit.
Once upon a day, the Lord arranged a visit for me to the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem (The Garden Tomb). Given the opportunity to stay with a dear friend at her long-time home on a kibbutz near Haifa, I noticed there a gigantic disc shaped stone, like an enormous round coin. This, my friend told me, is what some used to seal tombs carved into rock. A few days later, when I visited The Garden Tomb, I saw there a groove in front of the opening in which just such a disc could be placed. 
Light flooded my brain.
Now, I am by no means suggesting that this anecdotal experience weighs in with any scholarly importance whatsoever. It doesn’t. It’s just that being able to visualize how a rock could seal a flat, rectangular door actually helped my faith in Scripture. Yes, I realize that my faith must have been very small. Nevertheless, God is gracious.
Within the Tomb–Grace Upon Grace
The day I visited Christ’s tomb, I was virtually alone in the Garden. Some kind gentlemen took my picture, then they, too, left. Visitors in that era were permitted to enter the tomb, which is what I did. As I just said, I was virtually alone in the entire Garden, so I set my bag down, sat down, and remained awhile. Long enough to read the signs and Scripture two or three times and to be still. Then, like doubting Thomas when Jesus appeared to him and said, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe,” (John 20:27) I believed. Because, you see, the tomb was empty. Then I could get up and leave. No more thought was necessary. I had seen what the Lord in his grace had taken me half way around the world to see. Grace upon grace upon grace.
Now this is the truth that “those with Spirit fullness” (see first paragraph) already know. Jesus is Alive!! How do they know? By experience. How did I come to believe that the tomb was empty? By experience: I sat in an empty tomb.
John 20:29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
But God’s love is full of grace. For those who need to see in order to believe, God creates for them experiences of sight. We learn of God through his Word and through the hands-on activities of the Holy Spirit in our lives. So…
Believe and be blessed!
Werewolves and Fruit
Jesus will tackle those werewolves with you and prevail.
Jesus said, “By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” Matthew 7:16. Jesus spoke concerning false prophets. Can we extend the metaphor to include religions? We can judge religions by the fruit they produce; we can judge people’s beliefs by the person’s fruit.
Does what I believe produce goodness, including everything I keep private from others? Or, do I go around hurting others and myself?
Two examples of how people perform harm: 1) the demon-possessed man in Mark 5:1-20 hurt himself and possibly others. 2) Remus Lupin of the Harry Potter series was an unwilling victim of werewolfry. Remus Lupin suffered greatly by the harm he caused himself and those weaker than he. (Werewolves cannot keep themselves from killing others Harry Potter Wiki.) His wife loved him and his many friends loved him. He did much good in life. Nonetheless, neither their love and acceptance of him, nor his own love and acceptance of himself, neither all their combined willpower, nor their wizardry, nor any manner of ways of thinking positively about his problem could heal or change his affliction. His mental pain concerning his affliction may have diminished, but the affliction itself remained. If Remus had his druthers, he’d druther not be a werewolf. His fruit included good fruit and bad fruit. Is that the kind of fruit Jesus had in mind when he spoke of a tree as being “good?”
Jesus healed the man afflicted with demons. This man went home changed, clothed, and in his right mind. This man “believed in Jesus” after that and went home to tell his own people how much the Lord had done for him, and how the Lord had mercy on him Mark 5:19-20. His life bore fruit. All the fruit was good. He did not sometimes cut himself and sometimes not. No one ever needed to chain him again. By their fruit you shall know them.
I love wizardry. Who doesn’t? But I love Jesus Christ more, because he has real power to change me. Although those who know me well on a personal level might disagree, I no longer hurt others the way I used to do. Although the harvest may be small, my life does show signs of bearing fruit.
What about you? People are ready to invest years of their lives searching and trying to gain control over that which masters them, when the answer is so simple: Invite the Lord to come near the place where you keep your heart protected. Werewolves cannot live in his presence. Jesus will tackle those werewolves with you and prevail.
Interactive!
God Speaks And Listens
How often I pray and ask God to listen to me. We want to be heard by him and sometimes blame him if he doesn’t respond. God does indeed listen and hear everything we think and feel and everything in us of which we may even be unaware (Psalm 10:17). Wonderfully, God also speaks in a personal way through his written Word, the Bible. He doesn’t speak this way every single time we read the Bible, but he does so often enough that our prayer before reading should always include a request for our hearts and minds to hear him when he speaks to us.
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One Small Voice 