44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.
Faith is Not Based on Human Wisdom
4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
2 Corinthians 4:4
God Can Blind the Mind of the Unbeliever
4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Matthew 13:22
Worries About the Things of Life on Earth Hurts our Faith
22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.
John 5:39-40
Knowledge of Scripture is Not Eternal Life
39 You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
John 10:10
Life in the Full
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
John 17:3
Now This is What is Meant by Eternal Life
3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
The brilliant mathematician Blaise Pascal, who also studied theology, says “In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't.” ...Those who want to see the light, can see His light...Those who don't will not see it...Pascal also said that the human experience of emptiness and yearning is a pointer to the true destiny of humanity....God is the One who fills man's emptiness, this yearning and our restless heart...He is the Only One who can satisfy the desires of the spirit that we have...
When we ask is that all there is in life (or is this all there is in life), we are looking for something else something sacred, something holy...In a way we are searching for faith, we are searching for God... We are looking for Jesus to have a complete and completed life...We are looking for a fuller life, a more abundant life...The way I think about this, isn't why isn't there more sustained happiness, each and everyday in my life and everyone's life...This type of fulfillment can only come from God and His Son...
Faith comes from God and His Grace...God helps us see this Light that Pascal wrote about...God fills the void and the something beyond human desire that we cannot get filled and satisfied here on earth...When these voids get filled, we have a more abundant life...
Jesus is not only the Son of God, He is the image of God...It is by the grace of God and His LOVE that allows us to see the Light and have faith in His Father...No one can believe in Jesus unless His Father shows us the Light...The wisest of the wise may not believe in God or His Son, because faith does not rest on human wisdom...The Power of God, His LOVE, and His Grace allow us to have faith...Faith is not based on how smart we are or our IQ's...The unbeliever can get hung up on this life and the flesh, and on things like wanting more knowledge, more material things, money, and wealth -these things can choke off our faith, if we are not careful...But to have life and to have life in the full -we must know Jesus and His Father...
God is in control of the universe...It is God's activities in the universe that make all things possible...And even though we have free will and free choice, it is God who brings us to the Bible and to faith...Jesus said that even knowledge of the Scriptures alone does not bring us eternal life...God alone has the power to open our eyes to see the Light and to see the Truth...It is God who draws us to Him and Jesus...It is another example of His Divine Providence...God is Almighty and all powerful...When we know these divine things of God and His Son, we have eternal life...