Both are correct. We need God to draw us AND we have to come to our senses and turn to Christ. God draws all men, but not all come to their senses. We have to respond to God's invitation.
You make accepting the gift of salvation, sound like work. It is not "work" to accept a gift. Nor does a "free gift" become a "reward" merely because you accept it.
You make accepting the gift of salvation, sound like work. It is not "work" to accept a gift. Nor does a "free gift" become a "reward" merely because you accept it."
Jesus' words in the Gospel according to John disagree with you, my FRiend. Chap. 6:44 and again in :65, Jesus makes it clear that, "No man CAN come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day." Unless you are a universalist, you must admit not everyone will be raised up on the last day. Thus, if anyone is left, then Jesus must be arguing that not everyone will be drawn. But, even more importantly, if you are drawn, you will be raised up.
This is part of the very foundational views of the Reformation, the Irresistible Grace of God. When He sets His sights on a man, that grace begins to impinge upon the heart until it cannot resist the drawing to confess and believe. This Amazing Grace is not something we induce, request, assist, or even are aware of in the early stages as God's Spirit adopts us, regenerates us, thus making us alive to the fact we are beiing rescued.
And I certainly do not want to imply this is a "work". The glory of the Gospel is that it is truly not a "work" of any kind on our part. Not a decision, not a commitment, not a prayer, not a ceremony, not an acquiescence to a creed, not a joining to a group...nothing. It begins by God raising us from the dead, while we are at war with Him, and clothing us in the righteousness of His Son. This He has promised to do for those elect before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1). Then, and only then, do we begin to recognize what is happening to us as our hearts of stone have been replaced by hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26).
This is what the Scriptures means by being "born again". Just as you had no conscious part of being born the first time, you cannot elect to be born again. Should a man respond and repent (change his mind)? Certainly, but which has happened first...the adoption or the change in thinking? According to Paul, the change in thinking is a product of the adoption. This is a crucial distinction and separates believers from religionists. And, this is precisely why the Gospel is such good news. There is no "work" for me to do, no work I can do.
Should I try to grow as a beleiver afterward? Absolutely. But, even this is the work of God. Phil. 2:12, 13 "...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God at work in you both to WILL and DO for His good pleasure." Who exactly is inducing the "work" here?