Being "Spirit Born" Is Like a Flashlight (February 25, 2015)

Being "Spirit Born" Is Like a Flashlight

John 2:23-3:15

February 25, 2015

Today's Gospel Lesson is Basic Christianity.  But in this Lenten Season, it is good to remind ourselves of the basics.

As a kid, I would occasionally shine a flashlight into the darkness of the nighttime sky.  I would be amazed to think that, at least in theory, the light from that little flashlight would travel on forever.  At least it would travel until something blocked it.  That ray of light had a beginning point but no ending point.

When Jesus met Nicodemus under the cover of darkness, He offered a number of phrases that may have been among the most quoted in the entire Bible:  "No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above" (John 3:3) and "God so loved the world ..." (John 3:16).  It seem ironic that so many people speak of being "born from above" as the means for attaining eternal life after we die; I think Jesus also was focusing on life while we are living.  Just as the flashlight is the beginning point of the ray of light that goes on forever, being born from above is the beginning point of the journey to the kingdom of God that we call eternal life.  Eternal life is not the destination; it is the journey itself.

The question then becomes, how do I become born from above?  If we were talking about physical birth, then the question becomes laughable.  We are not born because we ask to be born; we are born because our parents gave us life.   In our spiritual birth, the same principle is at work.  We receive the gift of life from our Father in Heaven.  "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 3:23)  We don't receive this gift because we ask for it; we receive it because of God's gift.  “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).  When Jesus says in John 3:16, "so that very one who believes in him may not perish, but may have eternal life," He is not creating a new test that we must pass in order to receiving the gift.  He simply is telling us to "believe" (i.e., to trust) in the Son to give us this gift of spiritual birth.

Of course, we still have the problem of brokenness in the spiritual world--what the theologians call sin.  Sin in our lives can block our spiritual journey, much like a cloud can block the free passage of a ray from my flashlight.  To enable the light to continue on its journey, we need to remove the obstacles that block it.  To enable our spirit to continue on its journey, we need to remove the brokenness and sin that block us.  Here, we receive the promise that “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9).

So our spiritual birth marks the beginning of a journey that is not focused only on some point in the distant future; our journey begins now.  Every moment of that journey is sacred.  Every moment is part of that gift of God that we call "eternal life."

That is Basic Christianity.  May your light so shine!

Loving God:  I accept your gift of life today.  Shine in me!  Amen.