A Faithful God i
John 3:1-17 (CEV)
Jesus and Nicodemus
3 There was a man named Nicodemus who was a Pharisee and a Jewish leader. 2 One night he went to Jesus and said, “Sir, we know that God has sent you to teach us. You could not work these miracles, unless God were with you.”
3 Jesus replied, “I tell you for certain that you must be born from above before you can see God’s kingdom!”
4 Nicodemus asked, “How can a grown man ever be born a second time?”
5 Jesus answered:
I tell you for certain that before you can get into God’s kingdom, you must be born not only by water, but by the Spirit. 6 Humans give life to their children. Yet only God’s Spirit can change you into a child of God. 7 Don’t be surprised when I say that you must be born from above. 8 Only God’s Spirit gives new life. The Spirit is like the wind that blows wherever it wants to. You can hear the wind, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going.
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 Jesus replied:
How can you be a teacher of Israel and not know these things? 11 I tell you for certain that we know what we are talking about because we have seen it ourselves. But none of you will accept what we say. 12 If you don’t believe when I talk to you about things on earth, how can you possibly believe if I talk to you about things in heaven?
13 No one has gone up to heaven except the Son of Man, who came down from there. 14 And the Son of Man must be lifted up, just as that metal snake was lifted up by Moses in the desert. 15 Then everyone who has faith in the Son of Man will have eternal life.
16 God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. 17 God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them!
Being born
isn’t something you do for yourself.
Being born is the work of others,
hard work.
To be born again
is not my work,
but the work of God.
He is the one that gives life,
birth to his Spirit
to live
and breathe
afresh in me.
Nothing is required of me
than to allow it to happen.
The hard work has been done,
in creation,
in crucifixion,
in resurrection.
But why would God want
to live in me?
This broken vessel?
This wanderer from the way?
This person
who so often
fails to understand,
and when I do
often fails to do it?
Yet God whispers those magic words,
“I love you”,
you are important,
special.
You alone are worth everything
I have given,
the work I have done.
Yet it is not just for me.
That depth of love,
that care,
that work
of creation
and re-creation
is for every person on this earth.
Such is the faithfulness of God
to each one of us.
May I
allow it to be born,
grow
and live
in me.
May I show it
to those who need to know,
those who need love,
those who need life,
to every person
in this world.
Pam's Perambulation 