Why is it that so many people go on a spiritual journey and never find the one true God, Jesus Christ? Why do so many embrace false religions like Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism? And why do so many drop out of the search for God and proudly proclaim that they are atheists?
I think that it is critical to first realize that we are all born dead in our trespasses and sins, (Ephesians 2:1) and on our own, could not, and would never seek after God. Well-known American writer, Os Guinness, shares this important insight here, when he states: “We cannot find God without God. We cannot reach God without God. We cannot satisfy God without God – which is another way of saying that all our seeking will fall short unless God starts and finishes the search. The decisive part of our seeking is not our human ascent to God, but His descent to us. Without God’s descent there is no human ascent. The secret of the quest lies not in our brilliance but in His grace.”1
So, we see here why it is impossible to search for God without God initiating the process. All religions, except Christianity, basically have man reaching up for God. Only Christianity is God reaching down to mankind. And since we are born totally dead in sin we don’t have the capacity or desire to truly search for the one true God on our own, and as a result, God must search us out!
Secondly, our arch-enemy, Satan, falsely deceives many into adopting religion as their answer to knowing God. Unfortunately, religion is simply man reaching out to a god of human invention, not the true sovereign Creator God of the universe. Sadly, all that religion does is place man in the foolish predicament of always trying to earn favor with their man-made god.
Christianity, on the other hand, states that not only are we born dead in sin, not only are we incapable in searching after God, but we are totally deceived into believing, that we can, in our fallen and evil state, not only find God but earn favor with him through our desperately wicked hearts (Jeremiah 17:9).
Is it any wonder that so many people never find the one true God, the God of the Bible – Jesus Christ. My friends the only people who find the God of the Bible are those who admit that they are lost sinners, are drawn to God by God, and realize that they are only saved by grace and by nothing they can do on their own. So many people attempt to find God through their own efforts, not realizing that we can only find God when we humbly come to the end of our efforts, and let God orchestrate the entire process.
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“we can only find God when we humbly come to the end of our efforts, and let God orchestrate the entire process.”
This language is very close to the old bumper sticker that said, “Let go, let God.”
Everything in this devotion correctly pointed to God’s saving grace in salvation but this final sentence turned that around by declaring that we “let God.” Am I being too picky? Maybe, but I’m constrained to stay away from any hint suggesting that our salvation has any element of human effort or giving God permission. God orchestrates the entire process whether we let him or not according to His sovereign grace in election.
Acts 13:48 as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
Rom 9:22-24 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory.
Prepared before the foundation of the world. No one is letting God do anything. His will controls every outcome.