John 6:44-45 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.

Jesus was laying some really heavy stuff on His audience here. In verse 59 it specifies that He said all this in Capernaum, which is close to Nazareth where He was raised, and in verse 42 the people indicate that they were familiar with Him and His family. We can imagine how outlandish some of this sounded to them, with Jesus essentially offering Himself as the main course at a cannibalistic dinner. That’s why this section is so pertinent. For someone in that group to really hear and receive what He was saying, God had to be drawing and teaching him! However, this applies more broadly even today. God extends His invitation to all mankind, but we have to decide to accept it, to come to Him and learn from Him. That’s another of many reasons why there’s no room for pride in salvation, only gratitude for God’s grace and mercy. We cannot dictate who will accept God’s invitation and come to Him in repentance and faith, but we can do two things: we can pray for people, and we can share the Gospel with them. Whether they receive it and act on it is between them and God, but our part is in loving and sharing.

This is central to my life as a pastor in Japan. Just yesterday I was able to give my wife’s Care Manager two pamphlets I have written, one explaining what we do in church and why, and the other titled, “Foundations of Faith in Christ.” He is the son of a Buddhist priest and lives at the temple, and so is very familiar with religion. However, my experience with similar people tells me that he likely doesn’t have a deep personal faith. I’m praying that he will be hungry and thirsty enough for spiritual reality that he will want more, and I will be more than happy to supply it! There are actually lots of nominal Christians who are in his same situation, relying on little more than family tradition. That is certainly tragic, and I am to pray for them as well. I’m a member of a Facebook group of Missionary Kids, and sadly, numbers of them fit into that category as well. The whole balance of God’s sovereignty and our personal accountability is actually “above my pay grade,” as the saying goes, but I do know God’s gracious, loving character, and I am to seek to be an expression of that toward all.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for all the people You are bringing to the gallery show. I pray that today too I would be Your agent to them, expressing Your love and grace in ways they can receive it, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!