Winds of Change

For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.....John 3:16

In the third chapter of the book of John, we find Jesus speaking with Nicodemus. A Pharisee. A religious leader who practiced and taught the Jewish Law.

In trying to explain the concept of grace to a man entrenched in religion, Jesus spoke words that would become the most well-known verse of scripture. For God so loved....

I read a few years ago that while John 3:16 had for a long time been the most quoted verse of scripture, it was quickly being replaced by Matthew 7:1. Judge not, that you be not judged.

It's funny how the winds of change blow through time, but the human struggle remains the same. The struggle to believe that God could really love people who don't deserve to be loved. To believe in grace and mercy. For ourselves, and for all the rest of the undeserving world.

Jesus told Nicodemus that the Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness to save the children of Israel.

The cross of Calvary must be lifted higher than than our pride. Higher than our heartache. Higher than our guilt. Higher than our sins.....and higher than the sins of others too.

So that when the world sees the Church lift the cross of Calvary, they see in us the words Christ spoke after John 3:16. The words of John 3:17. For God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

For God so loved so that we, the Church could concentrate on spreading the message of grace and mercy.....and change. So that we could lift the Cross high above our sins and their sins as well and make love, not sin, the focus of our testimony. The focus of our lives.

The winds of change blew in the New Testament, but the Old Testament still reigns in many of our hearts as we strive to deserve a salvation that is undeserved. A salvation that is built on grace, mercy, and love. A salvation that is freely offered to even the most undeserving among us.

Later in the same chapter of scripture, John the Baptist's disciples came to him with concerns that Jesus was becoming more important than he was. John replied, He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.

Basically, John said, I was sent to help raise Him up. We are all called to do the same thing.

We must lift the cross higher and higher. So that all the world will see Him, not us. His power, not our discipline. His strength, not our weakness.

We must think less and less of ourselves. We must not think too highly of ourselves. When we think that we are deserving of anything that we've been given, we begin to judge those around us. We lower the cross and raise ourselves.

Lord help me to lift You up to the world around me. Help me to show them grace, mercy and love....not judgement

In his conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus said, 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.

The Spirit blows through humanity. It changes hearts in ways that cannot be explained to others. It inspires belief. It gives faith. It cannot be measured. It cannot be evaluated. It just is.....or isn't. But whether it is or isn't present in a heart is not for us to judge or attempt to explain.

The seasons of life change. Even with the power of the Spirit inside us, we are all still human. Even those who house the Spirit of God, can appear to us to be windblown sinners instead of Windblown saints.

We must never assume that anyone is lost, only God knows their heart. But we must act as though everyone around us is lost and needs to see Jesus lifted up like the bronze snake in the wilderness. High above their sins. High above their despair. High above their struggles.

So that they can be saved.

John, in speaking to his disciples, said, Anyone who accepts Jesus' testimony can affirm that God is true. God will open the eyes of all who look to Jesus. We must help others to see Him. To see Jesus on Calvary high above the world.

Lord help me to be quick to share the message of salvation, but oh so slow to judge the state of another's heart.

Jesus also said to Nicodemus, All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.

As we attempt to lift up Jesus in our lives, our closeness to Calvary will allow His light to shine on our lives. His truth will fall on our own sins. Our own shortcomings. Exposing them, for all the world to see.

In those moments of exposure by the light, we are faced with a choice.

We can lower the cross and keep our sins hidden, or we can become courageous Christians. Unafraid to allow the world around us to see our own unworthiness. Unafraid to allow others to see that God is still working in us. Through us. In spite of our sins.

We can be the same people we have always been, or we can be changed by our nearness to the cross as we lift it high above our own pride. Our own fear. Our own selves.

Nicodemus was changed.

We can be as well.

Lord help me to be changed. Help me to see my own sins in your light, and to be unafraid to allow others to see them as well. Help me to live by example. Help me to live by faith in your power to change me and everyone around me.

That is what God wants the world to see in my life.

That is my testimony.

That is the gift of faith in me.

(Journey: John 3:1-36)