Session 5 · John 6:44-45
Faith: Penguin Sex
Some beliefs are chosen. Some choose you.
Book reading: Chapter 5
Today's reading is Chapter 5 of Blue Like Jazz.
Chapter 5 opens with a conversation between Miller and Laura, who is resisting Christian belief. Miller says his own belief feels caused by something outside his effort. He suggests that some beliefs are chosen while others choose a person, and that faith involves both emotion and thought. This is Miller's own experience, so we test it by Scripture.
Jesus says something close to this in John 6. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” The picture is of God acting first. That matches Miller's sense that faith did not feel like something he built from scratch. Then Jesus adds, “It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’” Being drawn is not mindless. It comes with hearing and learning. The text ends this thought with the person who has heard and learned from the Father coming to Jesus. So head and heart, thinking and feeling, are all part of the picture, just as Miller says.
Notice the setting. Jesus says this to a crowd that has been grumbling about him. People who have seen miracles still resist. Jesus does not respond by shaming them or pressing harder. He explains that coming to him is not purely a matter of cleverness or willpower. That takes some pressure off. If you are the one trying to believe, you do not have to manufacture faith by trying harder. If you are talking with a Laura, you are not responsible for making her believe, and you cannot argue anyone into a love relationship.
That doesn't make us passive. Jesus calls people to come, and he promises that those who come will not be cast out. Drawing and coming go together. Think of how a person falls in love. Nobody decides one morning to feel it. But they do decide to show up, listen, and stay.
This also changes how to treat doubt. If faith is something God draws us into, then honest questions are not a threat. They can be part of learning. The people who resisted Jesus were not wrong to ask questions. The trouble came when they stopped listening.
If you worry that you are not being drawn, because your faith feels weak or you feel nothing, say that plainly to a pastor, counselor, or trusted friend. Doubt and numbness are not signs you have been rejected. They are good reasons to talk with someone you trust.
Key idea
Jesus describes coming to him as something the Father draws a person into through hearing and learning, so faith involves both God's initiative and a person's mind and heart.
Questions to consider
- Miller says some beliefs are chosen and others choose us. Which of your beliefs feel chosen, and which feel like they found you?
- Jesus connects being drawn with hearing and learning from the Father. What have you heard or learned that has made faith more credible for you?
Journal prompt
Write about the person, idea, or experience that first made faith feel credible to you. Was it more of the head, the heart, or both? How might God have been at work in it?
Practice
Write your own credibility story. 1) Set aside 10 minutes and write down what first made faith credible to you: a person, an idea, or an experience. 2) Mark each item as mostly head, mostly heart, or both. 3) End with one sentence of thanks to God for drawing you through it, or, if faith still feels uncertain, one honest sentence telling God where you are.