New 5

John 3:1-5

There is a clever challenge we have used before in church to show how God can make the impossible happen. We challenge people to cut an opening into an 8x11 piece of paper, leaving the paper in one piece. The hole must be big enough to allow your whole body to pass through without tearing the paper.

At first it seems like it can’t be done, but if you fold the paper down the middle and then make about a dozen cuts from the fold toward the edges and back again the paper can open up like a string of paper dolls – remaining in one piece – but with a hole large enough for an adult to pass through.

Nicodemus, a Pharisee, was presented with what appeared to be an impossible task. What did Jesus tell him about seeing the kingdom of God? What was Nicodemus’ interpretation? What did Jesus say?

Like so many, Nicodemus was trying to comprehend the ways of faith by looking at things from a human perspective. But Jesus clarified the situation by explaining that Jesus was talking about spiritual things.

To be part of the kingdom of God, to be immersed in our faith and a vibrant believer in Christ we must be born again. But this rebirth is not a physical matter. It is a spiritual matter. We are called on to be reborn in our spirits, to take on a new faith life, to give our spiritual attitudes a revival.

This lesson from Jesus was not for a new convert, someone unfamiliar with faith, but to a man who was a leader in spiritual matters. Like Nicodemus we are also called to have a new spirit put in us. We are called to ask God for a new heart, a revived and steadfast spirit, so that our faith life – our beliefs and our actions – might gain a new energy.

By being reborn by the Spirit, even when we are quite familiar with God and faith, we can have a new heart and new attitude toward our holy living.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you allow yourself to be reborn?