Someone once suggested that it would be helpful if there were a simple set of steps a person could follow to become a genuine follower of Jesus. It was a wonderful suggestion. After all, if knowing God is the most important relationship we can ever have, shouldn't there be a way to explain how that relationship begins?

But perhaps we have been approaching the question from the wrong direction.

Instead of beginning with what we must do to find God, what if we began by asking what God is already doing to find us?

Jesus made a remarkable promise in John 12:32: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”

Think about what that means. Before we ever thought about searching for God, He was already reaching for us. Before we recognized our need of Him, He was already working to awaken that awareness. Before we knew how to pray, He was already inviting us to come closer.

Salvation does not begin with a sinner struggling to climb toward heaven. It begins with a Savior who came down from heaven to rescue sinners.

And that changes everything.

A Cry for Help

I remember an experience I had while relaxing on an air mattress in a lake. Everything seemed peaceful until I heard a man calling for help somewhere out on the water.

I quickly grabbed a flotation device and went to his rescue. When I reached him, he gratefully accepted it.

Now imagine that same experience taking place in a dense fog.

The man is struggling in the water, unable to see the shore. He knows he is in trouble, but he cannot see anyone who might help him. So he cries out.

Somewhere in the fog, another man hears his desperate call and immediately comes toward him, bringing something that will keep him afloat.

The drowning man cannot see his rescuer approaching. He does not know his name, what he looks like, or anything about him. All he knows is that someone has heard his cry and is coming to help.

Would he refuse the flotation device because he doesn't know the man offering it? Would he demand to know everything about his rescuer before accepting the help he desperately needs?

Of course not!

He knows he cannot save himself, and someone is offering to save him. That is enough for him to accept the help.

That is a beautiful picture of how our relationship with Jesus can begin. Ask, then accept the help.

We may know very little about Him. We may have questions about His character, doubts about His existence, or fears about what following Him might mean. But we do not need to understand everything about Jesus before asking Him for help.

We can simply cry out, “Lord, if You are real, please help me!”

And we have His promise that He hears those who call upon Him. Romans 10:13 tells us, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

As we respond to His loving invitation, we begin discovering who our Rescuer really is. We learn that the One who came to save us is also the One who created us, loves us, and wants to spend eternity with us.

We don't have to know everything about Jesus before accepting His help. Getting to know Him is part of the rescue.

And there is something even more wonderful about this picture. The man in the water was not the one who organized the rescue. He could not see the person coming to help him. He could only cry out and respond when help arrived.

In much the same way, Jesus is the One who first comes looking for us.

The One Step That Changes Everything

James 4:7 tells us to submit ourselves to God and resist the devil. Notice the contrast. We are invited to resist the one who wants to destroy us and submit to the One who wants to save us.

To resist means to push against something, to refuse it, or to prevent it from happening. We might think of someone pressing the brakes while another is trying to move the vehicle forward. The effort is directed against the very movement that could take him where he needs to go.

Spiritually, we resist God whenever we knowingly refuse His loving invitation. We resist when He shows us something that needs changing and we insist on keeping it. We resist when He calls us to trust Him but we cling to our fears and tell Him no. We resist when He invites us to surrender and we refuse to release control.

Submitting to God is the opposite. It means becoming willing to let Him do what He knows is best for us.

And even there, we need His help.

Jesus said in John 15:5, “Without me ye can do nothing.” He was not exaggerating. We cannot save ourselves anymore than the drowning man can save himself. We cannot erase the sins of our past. We cannot cleanse our hearts of selfishness. We cannot manufacture genuine love, create holiness, or transform ourselves into the people God created us to become.

We cannot even produce true repentance through the strength of our own determination.

Yet there is something wonderfully encouraging about our helplessness. God does not ask us to accomplish the impossible before coming to Him. He asks us to call because we cannot accomplish it.

Perhaps you want to surrender your heart to Jesus but discover that part of you is unwilling. You know there are things you ought to release, but you do not want to let them go. You recognize that you need to change, yet you are frightened of what that change might mean.

You can tell Him exactly that.

You can say, “Lord, I know I need You, but I don't even know how to become willing. Please make me willing.”

And He will answer that prayer.

Philippians 2:13 explains that God works within us, giving us both the desire and the ability to do what pleases Him. What an extraordinary promise! The God who invites us to follow Him also offers to create within us the very willingness we lack.

That is grace.

Grace is not God pretending that sin is harmless. Nor is it permission to continue living in rebellion against Him. Grace is God's love reaching into a helpless human heart and accomplishing what that heart could never accomplish alone.

Jesus came to give us something far greater than a religious label or a promise of eventual escape from death. He came to give us life. In John 10:10, He described His purpose as giving us life more abundantly.

He wants us to experience the peace of forgiveness, the freedom of a clean conscience, the happiness of loving others, and the joy of knowing that we are loved by our Creator. He wants to heal what sin has damaged and restore what selfishness has stolen.

Why would we want to resist Someone who loves us like that?

What Happens When We Stop Resisting?

Of course, surrender does not mean that nothing will change in our lives. Quite the opposite. When we stop resisting Jesus, wonderful changes begin to take place.

At first, we may discover something uncomfortable about ourselves. The closer we come to Jesus, the more clearly we recognize the difference between His character and our own. Things we once excused begin to trouble us. We become conscious of selfish thoughts, unkind words, dishonest actions, and attitudes we had never seriously questioned before.

This discovery is not evidence that Jesus is rejecting us. It is evidence that His light is revealing what needs healing.

A patient who discovers that he is seriously ill has not been harmed by the diagnosis. The diagnosis has opened the way for treatment. And Jesus, the Great Physician, never reveals our spiritual condition merely to make us feel miserable. He reveals it because He longs to make us whole.

As we begin to understand our need, He teaches us to ask for help.

We may find ourselves praying like the desperate father who cried, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief” (Mark 9:24). Or perhaps our prayer will be no longer than Peter's frightened cry as he sank beneath the waves: “Lord, save me” (Matthew 14:30).

Jesus understood both prayers. He answered them both.

And He still answers the cries of those who recognize that they cannot save themselves.

As we continue to know Him, something else begins to happen. We start to believe that God truly loves us. Not merely that He loves humanity as a whole, but that He loves us personally, knowing everything about us.

The cross becomes more than a historical event. We begin to understand that Jesus willingly gave His life because He wants us to live. His sacrifice reveals the Father's love rather than persuading an unwilling Father to love us. As Jesus explained, the Father Himself loves us (John 16:27).

The more clearly we see that love, the more our attitude toward sin changes.

At first, we may regret our sins primarily because of their consequences. We dislike the guilt, the embarrassment, the broken relationships, or the fear of judgment. But as we come to love Jesus, our sorrow becomes something deeper. We begin to grieve over sin because it is contrary to the character of the One who loves us. We want to stop doing what is wrong, not simply to escape punishment, but because we no longer want to live in opposition to His love.

This is the repentance God works within us.

Then, instead of hiding our sins or making excuses for them, we become willing to confess them. We bring into the light what we once tried desperately to conceal, because we have learned to trust the One who is holding the light.

And what does Jesus do when we confess?

First John 1:9 promises that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Notice that the promise includes both forgiveness and cleansing. Jesus does not merely offer to erase the record of our wrongdoing while leaving us enslaved to the same sins. He offers to forgive our past and transform our future.

And we may believe His promise even when our emotions have not yet caught up with our faith.

Some people spend years wondering whether God has really forgiven them because they do not feel forgiven. Yet forgiveness rests upon the trustworthiness of God, not upon the changing condition of our feelings.

When Jesus promises to forgive, we can trust Him. We may simply say, “Lord, I believe You have forgiven me because You said You would. Help me to live in the freedom of that promise.”

As our relationship with Him grows, we begin to desire the things He desires. We want to follow Him openly, including through baptism, because we are no longer ashamed to belong to Him. We begin to speak about His goodness because the joy of knowing Him is too wonderful to keep to ourselves.

Our relationships change as well.

People who once irritated us become opportunities to practice patience. Those who have wounded us become people we want to forgive, even when forgiveness requires time and difficult decisions. We begin to recognize that the strangers around us are individuals Jesus loves just as deeply as He loves us.

The love we have received starts finding its way into the lives of others.

And something happens to obedience.

What may once have seemed like a burdensome collection of religious requirements becomes an expression of our growing trust in God. His commandments no longer appear to be arbitrary restrictions imposed by Someone determined to control our lives. We begin to recognize them as the loving guidance of a Father who understands what brings genuine happiness and what produces suffering.

Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

Obedience does not purchase God's love. We obey because we are learning to trust the love He has already given us.

Surrender Is Not Doing Nothing

But there is an important distinction we must never overlook.

Surrender is not the same as doing nothing.

Think again of the man struggling in the lake. Suppose he had heard someone approaching through the fog, calling for him to take hold of the flotation device. Would he have demonstrated faith by refusing to reach for it until the rescuer somehow forced him to accept it?

Of course not. Accepting the help being offered was an expression of his trust.

In much the same way, we must not mistake inactivity for submission to God.

When the Holy Spirit convicts us of something wrong, we are not surrendering by refusing to repent. When Scripture shows us something God asks us to do, we are not demonstrating faith by postponing obedience indefinitely. When Jesus calls us to forgive, confess, make restitution, or change a destructive habit, knowingly refusing His invitation is resistance, not surrender.

His grace does not eliminate our responsibility to respond. It makes that response possible.

That means the Christian life is not a struggle to convince God to save us. It is a daily experience of responding to the Savior who is already working within us.

When He shows you that you need help, ask for it. When He reveals a sin, acknowledge it. When He invites you to repent, do not turn away. When He calls you to confess, trust Him enough to tell the truth. When He begins changing your desires, habits, relationships, and priorities, cooperate with what He is doing.

And when you stumble, do not conclude that He has abandoned you.

Come back to Him.

The same Jesus who first invited you to follow Him is still willing to forgive, strengthen, and restore you. Your failures do not exhaust His patience, and your weakness does not diminish His power.

Remember Peter. He promised that he would never deny Jesus, yet just a few hours later he denied even knowing Him. Jesus knew Peter would fail. He also knew Peter could be restored. After His resurrection, Jesus lovingly invited that broken disciple to follow Him once again (John 21:15–19).

What Peter could not accomplish through confidence in himself, he learned to accomplish through dependence upon Jesus.

And that is the secret of the Christian life.

We do not become genuine followers of Jesus by making ourselves good enough for Him to accept us. Like the drowning man on the lake, we accept the help offered by Him. We become His followers by trusting Him enough to let Him make us new.

The Rescuer Wants to Take Us Home

Nor does the journey end with the changes He makes in this life.

Jesus has promised to return and take His people to be with Him forever. He is preparing a place for them, and one day He will bring an end to suffering, death, and everything else that has wounded the creation He loves.

Imagine being welcomed into a world where there will never again be a funeral, a hospital room filled with anxious waiting, or a relationship destroyed by selfishness. Imagine living where no one will ever be afraid, no one will ever grow old, and no one will ever have to say goodbye.

But even those wonderful promises are not the greatest treasure of heaven.

The greatest treasure is Jesus Himself.

The One who has been drawing us throughout our lives will finally welcome us into His presence. The Savior whom we have learned to trust without seeing will at last be standing before us, and we will discover that His love is even more wonderful than we imagined.

That is where He wants to lead you.

Perhaps you are only beginning to know Him. Perhaps you have spent years attending church but have never really understood how deeply He loves you. Or perhaps you once walked closely with Him and have gradually drifted away.

Whatever your story, His invitation remains.

He wants you to know Him. He wants you to understand His heart. He wants you to see what the Father is like by looking at the life of His Son.

So spend time with Jesus. Read the Gospels. Watch how He treated sinners, children, sufferers, doubters, and those whom society had rejected. Notice how gently He dealt with the brokenhearted, how patiently He taught the confused, and how freely He forgave those who came to Him.

The more clearly you see His character, the more reasons you will discover to trust Him.

And as you learn to trust Him, keep responding to His love.

You do not need to know every step of the journey before you begin. You do not need to understand every doctrine, overcome every weakness, or solve every problem in your life before coming to Jesus.

You only need to come as you are, willing for Him to lead you.

If you are not willing, ask Him to make you willing. If you do not believe, ask Him to help your unbelief. If you have fallen, ask Him to lift you up. If you are afraid, tell Him about your fear.

He already knows. And He already loves you.

That is why the invitation can be expressed in one simple sentence.

Do not resist His love.

Let Him have your heart. Let Him forgive you. Let Him change you. Let Him teach you to love as He loves.

And one day, let Him lead you home.

Because the One who is drawing you to Himself is the very One who gave His life so that you could be with Him forever.

Close This Section ↑