If you think you must take the first step toward God, then everything you thought about coming to God is backwards.
Actually, God always takes the first step toward you, and your movement in His direction is always a response to His first movement in your direction.
Here’s a truth that revolutionizes how you understand salvation: you cannot take a single step toward spiritual life except as Jesus draws and strengthens you to take that step. Not the first step. Not any subsequent steps. Every movement toward God is enabled by God, initiated by God, and powered by God.
Think about what this means practically. When you sense conviction about your sin—that’s not you suddenly becoming spiritual on your own. That’s the Holy Spirit working on your conscience. When you feel attracted to Christ—that’s not you developing spiritual taste independently. That’s Christ drawing you to Himself. When you desire to turn from sin, that’s not you generating righteousness through willpower. That’s divine grace producing desire for change.
This completely undermines any notion of spiritual self-sufficiency. You didn’t wake up one day and decide on your own to seek God. God was seeking you first, and your seeking is a response to His seeking. You didn’t generate an independent interest in spiritual things. God was working to attract your attention, and your interest is a response to His initiative.
But here’s where this gets challenging for many people: it means you have absolutely nothing to boast about in your salvation. You can’t take credit for your repentance—it’s a gift. You can’t pride yourself on coming to Christ—He drew you. You can’t congratulate yourself on your spiritual sensitivity—He created that sensitivity through His Spirit’s work.
Let me illustrate this with something I’ve observed repeatedly. When someone truly experiences conversion, they never talk about how they decided to get serious about God. They talk about how God got their attention, how He pursued them, and how He wouldn’t let them go. They describe being drawn, attracted, convinced, and moved by something outside themselves.
This is the testimony of genuine conversion: “I was going my own way, and God arrested my attention. I was running from Him, and He pursued me. I was spiritually dead, and He brought me to life. I was blind, and He opened my eyes. I was hardened, and He softened my heart.”
Contrast this with false conversions, where people talk about their decision, their choice, their commitment, their dedication. They focus on what they did rather than what God did. They emphasize their response rather than His initiative. They take credit for their spiritual achievement rather than acknowledging divine grace.
The difference isn’t just semantic—it reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of how salvation works. Those who think they initiated the process will always struggle with assurance, because they know deep down that their own decisions are unreliable. Those who understand that God began the process can rest in His faithfulness rather than their own.
Here’s what this means for someone struggling with whether they can truly come to Christ. You’re not waiting to generate the spiritual resources necessary to approach Him. You’re responding to His prior approach to you. You’re not working up the strength to take the first step. You’re letting Him strengthen you to respond to His drawing.
This is why the question isn’t “Can I manufacture enough repentance to come to Christ?” The question is “Is Christ drawing me, and will I respond to that drawing?” If you sense any movement toward God—any awareness of need, any desire for change, any attraction to Christ—that’s evidence of His drawing. Your part is to respond rather than resist.
But here’s what makes this both humbling and liberating: it means your salvation from beginning to end depends on God’s grace, not your performance. You can’t mess it up by failing to generate sufficient spiritual feeling. You can’t disqualify yourself by lacking adequate remorse. You can’t be rejected for insufficient self-improvement.
The only question is whether you’ll respond to the drawing you’re already experiencing. Will you come when He calls? Will you move when He draws? Will you surrender when He convicts? Will you trust when He offers?
If you’re sensing any pull toward God at all, that’s His Spirit already at work. You’re not starting from zero, trying to generate spiritual life in your own strength. You’re responding to life He’s already creating in you. You’re not taking the first step independently—you’re responding to His drawing, and He’s strengthening you to take that step.
Stop trying to initiate what God has already begun. Stop attempting to generate what God is already offering. Stop working to produce what God is already providing. Instead, recognize the drawing you’re experiencing as His work, and respond to it. Let Him lead you to the repentance you cannot manufacture on your own.
“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” - John 12:32
