Ellen wasn’t interested in God or Jesus Christ. Her sister was the spiritual person in the family. One summer, the sister attended a Christian camp for adults. On the last day of camp, she arranged that Ellen would drive to the campground and pick her up.
Ellen arrived early and found herself in the meeting tent. The speaker was giving his final message to the campers. Ellen didn’t have much choice, so she listened. At the end of the message, he invited those who wished to repent of their sins and be saved to come forward. Ellen had no intention of doing that.
However, she began to feel a strong compulsion to leave her seat. She grabbed the back of the chair in front of her. The compulsion grew stronger. She laughs telling the story. “I nearly pulled that chair — and the poor man sitting in it — with me. I had to go to the front. God was calling me and it was totally impossible to resist.”
Not everyone who comes into the kingdom has an experience like Ellen’s, but what happened to her vividly illustrates what Jesus said to those who questioned Him.
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me” (John 6:44-45).
The word “draw” literally means dragged. Ellen said that it felt like God physically grabbed and pulled her to the platform at that tent meeting. She tried to resist by gripping the chair, but His power was stronger than her resistance. She had heard about Him and now He was asking her to come and drawing her to obedience.
Some might think God is a bully for doing something like that, but God isn’t being mean. He is motivated by kindness. From the Old Testament, one of my favorite verses about His love shows that love moves Him to draw or drag people from sin to Himself.
The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you” (Jeremiah 31:3).
God loves people. He sent Jesus to die for people. Yet sin makes us dull of hearing and bent on our own ways. I know that apart from the drawing power of God, I would never have been interested in being saved from my sin or in what He could do for me.
Now I know that even before salvation, God cared for me and guided me. At that time I had no idea of His love. I’d been deathly ill in childhood and my mother prayed for me life. I didn’t know about this or that God had answered her prayers until much later. Like the people of God in the Old Testament, I was oblivious to His loving care. “I taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by their arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love, and I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them” (Hosea 11:3-4).
In love, God takes care of people. He provides food for our tables, healing for our sicknesses, and grace for each day, yet most of us are oblivious to His kindness. It is only when His bands of love drag us, like Ellen, to the foot of the cross that we begin to see the great love and mercy of God. And if anyone resists, like Ellen resisted, they will also begin to see that the love of God can also be accompanied by irresistible power. When He wants to save someone, He knows how to make it happen.
Using a devotional guide for my quiet time forces me to think in ways I might otherwise avoid. Today’s simple verse did just that. It is Paul writing, “I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise” (Romans 1:14).
The Greeks were cultured and refined; the barbarians rough and uncivilized. However, Paul didn’t make a distinction between them. God had done so much for him that he felt obliged to take the Gospel to everyone, no matter their so-called value as people or their status in the eyes of the world.
The author of Truth for Today illustrates by asking what a person should do if they saw a house on fire with a family inside and unaware of their dire situation. Would anyone stand on the curb and wonder if they’re worth saving? Not likely. If I know someone is in need and I have the information that can save them, I am obligated to do so.
I could argue that not everyone is so obviously needy, either to me or to themselves. Many appear to have their lives in order, while others are certain they know it all, even when they don’t. Some people are more interesting to talk to; some are more interested in what I might say. Many with spiritual needs think that they are just fine as is, so are not interested in the information that can save them. Aside from those realities, and to be totally honest, there are a few people that I find obnoxious and would rather not share anything with them.
This short statement by Paul convicts me about all this. He was obligated by his debt to God and did not make distinctions concerning who was worthy or not or even who was interested or not. He didn’t have the prejudices that he had grown up with (Jews hated Gentiles), but instead allowed the love of God to motivate him. He ministered to everyone.
The author of my devotional is a preacher who studies hours each day in preparation for information-packed Sunday messages. He says that sometimes the Scripture passages are so exhilarating that he can hardly wait to get to Sunday, but other times he battles priorities that crowd his study time, and his ministry doesn’t seem so exciting. He must fight his way through those times because “I know I have a debt to God.”
Instead of avoiding or turning away from those that I would rather not talk to, I need to be motivated by that same debt. I might not feel like it, but caring about others isn’t about me. How selfish and narrow-minded to think that I can pick and choose. I’ve not learned anything about love and being a servant of the Lord if I do that. If I cannot “feel like it” as I should, the least I can do is remember that I am in debt to God for all that He has done for me. Even though I cannot ever actually pay off that debt, the least I can do is love others the way that He loves me.
A former neighbor was highly involved in community service. She told me that she “loved helping people because it makes me feel so good.”
Truly selfless actions are rare. We want ourselves to look good, and if that doesn’t seem to motivate our actions, it usually pops into play when a camera shows up. We want to be liked by others, which also comes into play as soon as someone criticizes what we do. For most, this is their way of life. For me, I’ve spent years seeking my own glory, not knowing that there is another way to live.
Today’s devotional reading starts out with, “Many people think the main reason God saves people is so that He can keep them out of hell, or so that they can experience His love or lead happy lives. But all those reasons are secondary.”
He goes on to say that God saves for His own glory and uses this verse: “For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 4:15), but he didn’t quote the first part of it!
This statement and that verse make me think. Why did God save me? If He did it for me, then the me-centered answer is that He saved me because He loves me and wanted me to be His child. This is true, yet I know that the love of God isn’t about my merit. Sinners are hardly loveable and only the most narcissistic person could think that was true.
Instead, God loves me because of who He is. It is His nature to love, to want the best for, to be patient and kind toward those He created. The Bible is clear that His love is not about me. From His perspective, God is motivated to save people because He loves us. However, from my perspective that amazing sacrificial love is a wonder and it glorifies Him.
The Bible says that God does not think the same way I do. This makes me wonder if when He thinks about doing good toward us, is He doing that to glorify Himself? Does that mean saving us for His own glory is the same as selfish me doing things for my glory?
John Piper wrote a book about the delights of God. He alone is worthy of glory and He can be joyful in Himself, needing nothing or no one to make Him any happier or more satisfied than He already is. As a human being, that is a lofty concept that most people cannot grasp. We want glory but don’t deserve it; God enjoys glory because He alone is worthy of it.
Yet there is another angle to this. I think God saves people for our sakes, just as today’s verse says. He does it for you and me, for our eternal well-being, for our present standing before Him. His salvation is selfless; He spared no cost that it might happen. This isn’t a human, “look at me” effort, but done with our need and blessing in mind.
However, because of this great selflessness and sacrificial act, He is glorified. No one else is like that. No one gives up everything that others, even who are enemies, might gain everything. This makes my salvation a glory for God. Not that He was seeking it, but because He was concerned for others, not Himself.
This is difficult to apply. I know that I am to be selfless. The mystery is that if I am focused entirely on the well-being of someone else, I am seldom aware of myself. My own needs are far from my mind and any thoughts of glory for me do not exist.
During those times (which should happen more often) I might say and do things that people thank me for and I’ve no clue what they are talking about. As this verse says, at that point it is God who needs to be thanked, not me. Salvation may be for my sake, but because He alone is worthy, any glory that comes out of it must be for His sake.