Being Drawn by Irresistible Grace

‘ “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him [giving him the desire to come to Me]; and I will raise him up [from the dead] on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they will all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has listened to and learned from the Father, comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He [who was with the Father and] who is from God; He [alone] has seen the Father. I assure you and most solemnly say to you, he who believes [in Me as Savior—whoever adheres to, trusts in, relies on, and has faith in Me—already] has eternal life [that is, now possesses it].” (John 6: 44-47, AMP)

Tonight, I walked into the kitchen and into a swarm of fruit flies. There are not a lot of household pests that get under my skin the way fruit flies do. I see them and I feel like I’m breathing them in, they’re crawling on my skin; I get itchy just thinking about it.

The best trap for fruit flies is putting some dish soap in the bottom of a container, then a little apple cider vinegar and water before shaking it up. The trap is even better when you put a piece of plastic wrap over top and poke some holes in it, this way, when the flies crawl in to the trap, they can’t easily get back out.

The premise is simple: the apple cider vinegar has a smell similar to overripe fruit, which draws the flies. The dish soap breaks the surface tension of the liquid, which keeps the flies from floating to safety and getting out of the trap. They are drawn to the trap by something irresistible: a smell they associate with food. 

Last week, we talked about how God draws His people to His Son, Jesus, and anyone entrusted to Him is not lost. Those who believe and are held by His hand cannot be plucked out of it. That’s comforting, but also challenging. If God first draws, does that not mean that we are brought to a saving grace against our will? Are we just fruit flies to a trap? The answer is partly yes– but also partly no. 

On one hand, we are drawn like those fruit flies. God, through the Holy Spirit, draws us with His grace, which to the believer is irresistible against any fight of the flesh. This grace is sweet to the soul and a treasure to those God wills to turn towards it. God empowers us to come; to look upon Him and approach Him. The word John uses in this passage for “draw” is “helkuein,” which is also used in Jeremiah 31:3, where God says He draws with loving-kindness. 

This drawing is an alluring pull, not a resistive drag. We come to the Lord because He pulls us in with His irresistible grace. We come to Him because the Holy Spirit has enabled us to put off our flesh that could never choose God if left to its own devices and to desire God. We approach Him because He first beckoned us to come and gave us His mercy to be beckoned.

This irresistible grace– this loving-kindness with which God calls us– is only attractive to those who will believe. An unbeliever would not be drawn by it and would easily resist it. This is why Jesus differentiates between sheep and goats in Matthew 25. Those who believe are sheep, those who don’t are goats. Can a sheep be born a goat or a goat born a sheep? No.

That’s not to say that we should stop sharing Jesus with those in our communities and families. 

Evangelism is still the great commission of the Christian believer. Yes, those who are called will come to God, but we also have to acknowledge that God uses ordinary means to draw the unbeliever to Him. God uses the man on the corner with a Bible and a sign. God uses the little, old lady in the grocery store who strikes up a conversation with a stressed, young mother. God uses the man at the gas station who offers to pump gas for a disabled man and decides to share Christ with Him.

Because we, in our flesh and limited perspective, do not know who is a sheep and who is a goat. We may never know until we get to Heaven. Someone could be drawn to Christ as a child in their Sunday school class, or 60 years later on His deathbed. We just don’t know when God wills someone to come to Him, we just know that He will and that He’s asked us to go and share the Gospel with the world. 

That fruit fly trap is only designed to draw flies. It won’t draw ducks or elephants or birds. In much the same way, the Father’s grace is only designed to draw those who believe in the Son. Those who listen to His lessons and trust in His teachings. They hear His Word and come running. That same Word will never move an unbeliever to put their faith in God, unless God has given them the desire to trust Christ. Because Christ is the only one who has seen the Father and knows His mysteries.

Even here, in John 6, we see Christ alluding to the Godhead: that God effectually calls those whom He created to believe and those who draw near are saved by the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Take a moment today to sit with the Lord. Give Him praise for drawing you by His grace. Thank Him for including you amongst His sheep. Ask Him to give you the words and the opportunity to share His Son with others, using you bring others to salvation.