Lovewell: A Theology - Day 12

John 6:44
44 For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up.

What is the drawing power of an authentic relationship? In this text, we see that Jesus is reminding people that even their attraction to him is the work of the Father. We call this prevenient grace, or grace before grace. I have spoken and written about this before. What it means, in the easiest sense, is that before you knew you needed Jesus, the trinity was prompting you to understand that you needed Jesus. Even your act of conversion was a gift from God. 

This means that God is constantly on the lookout for those who might be interested, who’s walls of cynicism are cracking, and to those who have realized that life is about so much more than what they have been pursuing thus far in their lives. It means that God is proactive in finding you in the midst of your sin, your frustration, and even in the midst of your joys and triumphs. You are never forgotten, and you are always sought after. 

How does this fit into the idea of authenticity? 

It means that there was never a time, no matter how far into sin, how deep into despair, or how calloused with discomfort you had become that God was not searching for you. God was never under any question about who you were or are, God knows, and God loves you regardless of what you have done. His love for us has always been authentic in that you cannot fool God with fancy words or with running away. God knows, and God still loves. . .

Perhaps that is the lesson we need to learn from this text. God cannot have anything but authentic relationships with his people because of God’s perfect knowledge of them. But this has never made God feel as if we were not worth being in a community of belonging with us. The truth is, what we are learning about communities of belonging is that they work best when the relationships are authentic, honest, trustworthy, and real. 

When we recognize that God is always searching and always finding us, we begin to realize that we have nothing to lose from the truth about who we are, and that we will never truly be lost, because God is constantly on the search for us. 

1. How can we be sure God is chasing after us? 
2. What does it mean to you that God is in love with you even though he knows everything about you? 
3. If you were to share what you were thankful for when it comes to God’s love, what would it be? 
4. Do you have a friend that you can be authentically real with? 
5. Reach out and let them know how much they mean to you!