Great Wednesday morning to you! September has arrived and the angle of the sunshine in my office shows it. I spent most of my walk this morning in the state of photography known as, "too dark". The heavy clouds to the east made the sunrise light up the town a bit late this morning. Yes, there are ways to compensate for the darkness, but a flash kind of destroys the mood of the early morning (and my night vision), and long shutter speeds without a tripod result in a picture full of fuzzy blurry things. The remainder of the day is still before me; I have much to do and wonderful work to accomplish.
Nicodemus is probably hoping that Jesus is going to give him that one explanation that will make being born again clear and accomplish-able. But what does Jesus say in today's verse?
"The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can't tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit." John 3:8
Some of us might claim that we can answer that question today. Of course, by 'we' the claim includes scientists with all manner of fancy measuring devices and computer models. Don't get caught up in the technical issues, Jesus could have easily asked the question about something that no one living today would have any way of knowing right now. At issue is not Nicodemus' technical or scientific knowledge, but his lack of understanding of the Good News Jesus has brought to the world. We are of course no better off than Nicodemus. I can't write up a devotional that explains how being born of the Spirit works. Like you, I must accept on faith that Jesus has done what he said he would do when I gave my life to him. A person in the world who does not yet believe might even ask one of us that question one day.
"So, how does this being reborn in the Spirit work? Does it hurt? Will I feel anything?" are some questions that even Nicodemus might have been thinking at that moment. At one time, I waited for that big feeling that I had heard would happen at salvation. I had come to expect that salvation would feel like the Holy Spirit had flipped some big toggle switch inside of me that was connected to all my emotions, flipping them from mostly negative to all positive in one mighty flip of the switch. Didn't happen. Some people do feel a great sense of love or relief at salvation; I don't dispute that and praise God for it. Jesus didn't promise that any feelings would or would not accompany that moment when we surrender to him. What he did promise was that the Holy Spirit would come into our hearts at that time. We are to have faith that Jesus has done what he promised. Whether the Holy Spirit is going to give any one person a 'hello, I'm here' feeling at that moment, I would say that is entirely up to the Spirit.
Nicodemus probably noticed something else about Jesus' statement; not only can we not accomplish our own rebirth in the Spirit, we can't even explain it. I wonder if ol' Nico felt kind of stupid and lost at that moment? Look at it this way: If you wanted to change out the heart of a sheep while keeping the wool and body just as it is in its current lost condition, you would know that the sheep would have no knowledge of how and no method at hand for doing that to itself. From God's point of view, to save all of us lost little humans, he must provide the way. Now I'm starting to jump ahead here. Time to hold off; that Good News verse is not too many days away now!
Have a great and beautiful Wednesday in Christ Jesus!
Bucky
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