Spend Time With Jesus – August 20, 2021

[Jesus said] “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”
John 6:44

Spend Time With Jesus

In his younger years, renowned Christian writer C. S. Lewis was an avowed atheist. When he was a young boy, his mother died. Her death so wounded him that it took him down the path of renouncing God. Left to himself, he would have continued in that path throughout his life.

But he was not left to himself. Little by little, the Lord rattled his presumptions and exposed him to the reality of his existence. Little by little, the Lord gave him passing encounters with the message of the good news of what Jesus Christ came to do. One key encounter involved a long walk he took after an evening meal. He took this walk with an old friend, J. R. R. Tolkien (yes, that J. R. R. Tolkien—the man who wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings). As a result of these various encounters with the message of Jesus, C. S. Lewis came to faith in Christ as his Savior from sin.

Later in life, Lewis wrote about his conversion. When he did, his candor about it was disarming. According to his autobiography, Surprised by Joy, Lewis describes himself in his conversion as “the most…reluctant convert in all of England…dragged into the kingdom kicking, struggling, …darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape.”

In his own C. S. Lewis-like way, he made it clear that he could not take the credit for coming to faith in Jesus. On the contrary, he trusted in Jesus as Savior because the Lord had drawn him in through the power of the gospel.

Jesus himself acknowledged the same thing. He said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44).

Perhaps you are in a period in your life where you don’t know what to make of Christianity. If so, keep spending time learning all that Jesus has done on your behalf. And know this, too. The Lord is at work in your life.

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, in those moments when I struggle, fill me with your Spirit. Draw me closer to your Son. Amen.