Jesus spoke with a fundamentalist

I find it astounding that Nicodemus, a Pharisee, was welcomed by Jesus, even when he needed to meet with Him at night. Nicodemus was a fundamentalist, to use our post-Reformation label, one who is well-versed with legalism, and who's failing at fulfilling the Law. And Jesus said this: "You must be born again." Say that to a fundamentalist today and they might fume. "I am a Born Again Protestant!"

I am glad Nicodemus responded otherwise. He asked Jesus to clarify. "How can I be born again?"

Jesus' reply to me was cryptic. "The wind blows all around us as if it has a will of its own; we feel and hear it, but we do not understand where it has come from or where it will end up. Life in the Spirit is as if it were the wind of God."

I cannot begin to understand what that means, but I think that's the whole point. Once I feel I have grasped it, understood it logically, then I have lost it. It is the wind. It goes where it does. Life in the Spirit, this new Life we are born again into, is a constant Second Circle connection to the Spirit's Presence, and a moment-to-moment obedience to His Will. It is, by its very nature, unpredictable.

I think we evangelicals have missed the message somehow. We thought we needed to be born again so we can be ensured of going to heaven when we die. Isn't that what John 3:16 promises? Yes, but there's more than that. It's not just life hereafter. It's life here and now.

We need to be born into the Spirit so we can belong to the kingdom of God, or as I like to think of it, under the kingship, rule, and authority of God. We are positionally placed into His rulership, His dominion, and we become subjects to the Sovereign King whose will is fulfilled. It is a transference from the world's darkness into the Light. No more hiding in the buses like our parents Adam and Eve did.

"Those who abandon deceit and embrace what is true, they will enter into the light where it will be clear that all their deeds come from God" (John 3:21).

God, I want to be born of the Spirit. Please, Jesus, I want this life that You offer.

photo credit KingOfWallpapers.com