"Come"

For some time our Pastor has been reading Matthew 11:28 and the word "Come" has been on my mind.  I recently heard someone say "It is our responsibility to come"  as if it were our choice.  That did not sit well with me so I have been asking the Lord to give me wisdom in the word "Come". It just seems that if it were our responsibility then we would have a reason to boast.  Ephesians 2:8,9


The Lord would never give us that opportunity to boast in ourselves. "It was I who chose the Lord. It was I that came to the Lord. It was I that made the decision for the Lord."


I think we are forgetting and not giving credit where credit is due...The Holy Spirit convicts of our sins (John 16:7-11), giving us the knowledge of sin, once we understand our condition, we begin the search for salvation.


We would never understand our state of depravity if it were not for the Holy Spirit.  As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God.  Romans 3:10&11


Jesus taught Nicodemus that the Holy Spirit gives us a spiritual rebirth, without which we cannot see, or understand, the kingdom of God (John 3:3). Paul refers to this process as being "made alive," and John, James, and Peter speak of our being "begotten." We speak of "regeneration," or being re-created in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). It is the work of the Spirit to awaken our hearts to God, to call us from death to life, to bring us to faith, and to seal us with a guarantee of our eternal inheritance.


So the word "Come" we would never hear nor understand if it were not for the work of the Holy Spirit.  So what do we do with the word "Come"... We respond in humble obedience only because we have been given the ability to "Come".  We no longer live in the bondage of sin, we have the freedom to come.


I love how one pastor put it...A cow eats grain; the cow would never eat meat, he wouldn't even think to eat meat because that is not in his nature.


The cow has free will to eat meat.  No one is stopping him...but, it would never even cross his mind.


It is only through the work of the Holy Spirit, the rebirth He begins in us, that we are able to do something that is not in our nature.




Which leads me to the previous post...Compassion for the ones "who know not what they do"