John 3 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.
I've started a new walking program. I'm on my second week, and I'm still walking! That's amazing for me. As I was walking today, I noticed trees beginning to show their bright green new leaves. The flowering trees are about to be in full bloom. It seems like overnight, the world went from nothing but sticks for trees and dead lawns to budding, flowering beauty. I walk by them each day and watch them change.
I thought as I walked today, that the seasons are really a good metaphor for our spiritual journey. No matter how deeply we are into the winter of life, with its cold unfeeling wasteland surrounding us, God can bring about a resurrection of the soul, a rebirth, just as surely as he brings the spring after the winter.
The words "born again " have been misused, overused and sometimes abused by Christians through the years. To Nicodemus, they are totally foreign. He has no concept of what born again might mean. He takes it literally, and just cannot wrap his brain around that concept!
Jesus then gives the interpretation for Nick: "No one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.
Every day when we awake, we make a choice whether or not to enter the Kingdom of God or the kingdom of this world. We choose whether or not we will remember our baptismal vows to resist evil in all forms, to study the scriptures, and many other things that will lead us into Kingdom living. We choose whether or not we will walk in the power of the Spirit, or neglect our daily contact with God. I find myself having to daily be born again into the newness of life that Jesus offers us through grace. I come home at the end of the day covered in my sins from past few hours, and I go to God again to "know that I know that I know deep down in my knower" that I am forgiven. I go to bed with a (fairly) clean slate, knowing tomorrow I begin again. Each day offers us rebirth and renewal.
So, I'm going to watch as the trees go from budding in spring,to full foliage in summer, to colors in the fall, to seeming death in the winter, and remember that God is with me through all the seasons of my life.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.