““All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
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JOHN 6:37–40
It’s easy for many of us to fall into thinking of God as angry and disappointed toward us, or at best, as passive and indifferent. Some may think that they’ve failed him so many times that he’s probably given up on them to focus on the godly, “effective” people. But Jesus’ words tell a vastly different story.
Through Jesus, God is actively reaching into our chaos, pain, and confusion to grasp us and rescue us from sin, evil, and ourselves. Jesus has initiated the relationship with us: “I have come down from heaven to do God’s will.” And when God grasps us, we are secure, not driven away, forgotten, or lost.
For those who trust in Jesus, God is not aggressively against you (as in judgment) and God is not passively indifferent about you (as if you will be forgotten). Rather, he is actively, lovingly ensuring that you will have new life: “all who believe in the Son will have eternal life” and “I will raise you up on the last day.”
Jesus is assured that many would indeed come to him in faith. God does not turn any away who come to him, nor will he ever disown them. In a world of overwhelming complexities and insecurities, you can know at the very core of your being that God has decided to make you his and will not let anything get in the way. If you have put your trust in Christ, your future is not hanging in the balance; it is rock-solid. Your future is resurrection.
We are bent toward independence and unfaithfulness. If the security of our salvation depended on our ability to choose and hang on to Christ, then we would be caught on the treadmill of a self-centered scheme of works righteousness. Thankfully, Scripture teaches that it all depends on God to keep us secure:
- “If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? . . . So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” (Matt. 18:12–14)
- “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10:27–28)
- “To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 1:24–25)
Trust Jesus, and rest secure. Jesus loses no one.
Justin Holcomb is the executive director of the Resurgence, and at the end of this month, will be installed as the lead pastor ofthe U-District church.