“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 (NIV)
Many people have heard about heaven and hell. Some don’t know that God only allows those who believe and accept Jesus’ truths will spend eternity with Him. Some don’t realize that no matter how loving God is, some will not be in heaven with Him. God introduces us to Jesus through the nudging of the Holy Spirit who then guides along a path that allows us to understand Him. The Holy Spirit plants thoughts in our minds and sets up circumstances where we can hear about Jesus. If we choose, He will take us on a path that will lead us to become followers of Christ. We are helped on this journey to God if we allow the Holy Spirit into our daily lives.
We can’t do anything to influence God’s decision to offer us the gift of eternity other than wait as unworthy recipients. It is by His grace and not our effort that we are drawn to Him. God chooses us and the Holy Spirit nudges us with thoughts of intentionally seeking God. How we respond may negatively affect our eternity, but it will not stop God from pursuing us.
God allows us the choice to pick and choose our life path, including choosing between the path that leads to Him or one that takes us away from Him. However, His desire is that we all come to Him and until our last breath He will pursue us. Some have been drawn to the idea of Jesus but do very little to seek or worship Him beyond anything requiring minimal effort. Weekly or bi-weekly attendance at church, occasional conversation / prayer with God, and minimal or no time in scripture will not help the follower know God. These spiritual practices introduce us to Jesus truths. They don’t make God love us more nor give us entry into His family, but through these practices, God’s grace reveals His will and His purpose for our lives.
The topic of what it means to be a Christ follower can be tricky and often leads to difficult conversations. However, it is very important that we think about our relationship with God. We need to ask ourselves some questions about our beliefs, attitudes and behaviours so that we don’t fool ourselves into thinking we made it into heaven only to find out we didn’t. There will be a time when God finds us and starts to prompt us to seek Him. We can resist and hold out but when He gets a hold of us and we intentionally seek Him, we won’t worry about where we will be spending eternity, we will know.