born again?

My pastor wrote a book to go along with the current series we are doing at church and I am loving it! I was reading something the other night that I felt like sharing.

John 3:1-4

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born."

The top religious scholar in the land, Nicodemus was impressed enough by Jesus to ask for a secret night meeting so he could get to know this new and exciting young teacher. Jesus gets straight to the point: "You must be born again."

Born again. It's a familiar phrase but what does it mean? Max Lucado explains it like this: "How active were you in your birth? Did you shove yourself out? Did you have a walkie talkie in the womb saying, 'Ok Doc, I'm in position. We are good to GO!'" No.

Someone else did the work.

Someone else felt the pain.

Someone else made the effort.

And we were given life through them.

Same when you're born spiritually. It's not about your effort. Jesus did the work. Jesus felt the pain. Jesus made the effort. He did it so we might have life through him. (John 3:16)

How beautiful.