Kicking and Screaming

“Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, ‘The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God.’”

~1 Kings 18:38-39

In chapter 18 of 1 Kings, the prophet Elijah is alone with 450 people who worship Baal. They are convinced that their god is the “real” God and Elijah is given the task of proving otherwise. I always chuckle when I read this chapter because Elijah is kind of a smart aleck, and taunts and mocks these people. From the viewpoint of the others, Elijah is either very brave and sure of his God or has a death wish. Sometimes, we can be like that too when we feel must prove God is who He says He is. I remember when I was a very young Christian and felt it was my Christian duty to tell everyone who God is and inform them if they didn’t change their mind right then, they would go to hell. Funny thing, people don’t like hearing they’re wrong! No matter how much zeal we have, or how many Bible verses we can quote, until someone is drawn to the Lord, we are likely to turn people off from Christianity when we approach them that way.

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day (John 6:44).”

For us to truly understand who Christ is and how He works in our lives, we have to be drawn to Him. In the above verse, the word translated as “draw” is helkuo – which means to “drag toward” both literally and figuratively. If you’re a parent, you’ve had to drag your child to bed, or away from something dangerous etc. and you understand helkuo is a one-sided affair. You must act in your child’s best interest, even if they are screaming and fighting you all the way. This is a type of picture of us coming to Christ. We may have had someone tell us about Christ, maybe more than once, but until we are drawn by the Holy Spirit, we will never come to Christ on our own. We are that child, kicking and screaming the whole way! So, we must remember when we are telling others about Christ that our words alone will never bring them to salvation, no matter how fervent we are to prove that Christ is the answer. We can plant the seed if we do it in a kind, non-threatening way so we don’t turn the person off from ever hearing about God again, but no matter what we say, until God calls someone to salvation, the most we can do is be a good example of what it means to live for Christ.

“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. 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’ (John 6:35-40).”

Read Ezekiel 1-10

 © 2018 Marie McGaha