Mark 1:1 (NLT)
Here begins the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.
Take a stroll down memory lane. Maybe you were 13 or 30. But remember the first time you fell in love. Remember how you were struck by their beauty/handsomeness. They wooed you with flowers and candy and movies and romantic walks. You wanted to spend all of your waking hours with them. You had a choice whether to do this but your attraction to and love for them swayed you. Sucked you in. Fascinated you.
This is what GOD does. In purest form. GOD loves us enough to pull us toward him. Even before we know we need a Savior. Nowhere is this depicted more simply than in C.S. Lewis' book The Silver Chair from the Chronicles of Narnia series. Here, a little girl is talking to Aslan the Lion (who represents Jesus). She relates how she prayed to come there and stand before him. But Aslan responds that she would have never come had he not drawn her there. Profound.
If you’re not the story type of person, pastor and author John Piper states it concisely:
“GOD would have to transform my heart to do what a heart cannot make itself do, namely, want what it ought to want. Only GOD can make the depraved heart desire GOD.”
Powerful.
One of the phrases I've latched onto as a believer and share often as a teacher is this:
I wouldn't even know I needed GOD without GOD impressing Himself upon me.
This is what Francis Chan is conveying here. We should love GOD because we choose to. We should love and desire GOD because He is GOD. Not what we can get out of him. And GOD gives us the choice, all while drawing us to him and giving us every opportunity to join in relationship with him.
Author’s Note: for more on this topic, read pages 57-60 of Crazy Love by Francis Chan and Danae Yankoski
