However deep the mystery, however many the paradoxes involved, it is still true that men become saints not at their own whim but by sovereign calling. Has not God by such words as these taken out of our hands the ultimate choice? “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing . . . All that the Father giveth me shall come to me . . . No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him . . . No man can come unto me, except it were given him of my Father . . . Thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. . . . It pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me.”
God has made us in His likeness, and one mark of that likeness is our free will. We hear God say, “Whosoever will, let him come.” We know by bitter experience the woe of an unsurrendered will and the blessedness or terror that may hang upon our human choice. But back of all this and preceding it is the sovereign right of God to call saints and determine human destinies. The master choice is His, the secondary choice is ours. Salvation is from our side a choice, from the divine side it is a seizing upon, an apprehending, a conquest by the Most High God. Our “accepting” and “willing” are reactions rather than actions. The right of determination must always remain with God.
Verse
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” John 6:44
Thought
The master choice of salvation is His, the secondary choice is ours.
Prayer
Conquer our wills, Holy Father, and help us to realize that our choice to accept You is but a reaction to Your initial call.