That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”— Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ …And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.— Yet it was our weaknesses He carried; it was our sorrows that weighed Him down…And because of what He has experienced, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for He will bear all their sins.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.— You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand in it firmly. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News.— For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness.
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified… “I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” …Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, …and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.— For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”— To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ… according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith– to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.
Jn.3:6-9 ESV; Heb 10:7,10 ESV; Is.53:4,11 NLT; Jn.1:12-13 ESV; Col 1:21-23 NLT; Ps. 95:7-8 ESV; Heb.10:14, 16-24 ESV; Rom 1:16-17 ESV; Col 1:27 ESV; Rom 16:25,27 ESV
I bumble through life feeling not quite sufficient, not quite pleasing, frankly, not very useful for the Kingdom. I ‘know’ the facts of the Gospel, that all who believe are forgiven and declared righteous by faith–accepted in the Beloved and fitted with all that is needed to fulfill God’s calling, but I tend to hang back feeling ‘less than’. Too often mine is a somewhat dysfunctional faith. It doesn’t quite percolate out so others can ‘smell the coffee’. And yet, all is done. So I find myself frequently back circling these Gospel themes like a moth fluttering around a lightbulb. As a child of God in Christ I am holy and being made holy. I’ve been made right with God and am being made to resemble His Son. There is truth here that I need to live and breathe, daily! It is very good news. May God soften our hearts to hear and believe and keep on believing through all our days.
He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
–LS
(I Th.5:24)
I understand. I do. But… I will share this epiphany I had while feeling completely useless because I simply cannot pinpoint a single convert I can take credit for in all of my 70 years. Aren’t we admonished to spread the gospel and be disciples? Isn’t that what our religion mandates?
Yes and no. First of all, I did come to terms with the reality that I am a sower not a reaper. I was made that way so it’s not as though I had a choice. I sow seeds and pray that the harvester will come and speak in the way the potential believer can hear.
Second of all, and more importantly, we forget that the will of the majority is rarely the will of God so setting the standards, what constitutes ‘discipleship’ based on human understanding is counter productive.
I once marveled at and even posited the question to God – compared to all the other planets in the universe, earth is so small – why pick this rock? The answer came as though He was standing right next to me – chomping at the bit to respond. “What’s size got to do with it?” He sniffed. My eyes shot open. I said, “What?” And then I said, “Oh.”
You see God is not bound by our measurements or time. He has plans for us and uses us whether we are willing vessels or not. I’m convinced He does prefer to use the nice empty vessels first though. We have no idea what the tiniest word or deed can do for Him. We don’t have to know. All we have to be is open. To listen, to obey and then to trust. He does, after all know what He’s doing. 🙂
Meema
Oh Meema, thanks for taking time to give this word of encouragement. I’m pretty convinced that much of my problem in overcoming this stubborn unbelief is due to not being surrounded with fellow believers who bolster my weaknesses with their strengths and provide me opportunity to see my gifts at work in their lives. True fellowship always leaves me encouraged, but it is in scarce quantity these days, especially since our recent (ha! over a year ago) move…. Being in the Word is a lifeline. Spurring one another on to love and good deeds is another necessity…Thanks for being a ‘spurrer on’ ( :
Your thoughts on what constitutes ‘discipleship’ and the personal limitations with which we are designed… are always good to hear. They are rare. My husband also provides this voice in my ear, not being one to follow the status quo if he doesn’t perceive it to be God’s will for him. I am blessed to have such input. Just need to keep believing it! Thank-you!
You got this – sometimes we overthink things rather than just exhale and be deeply grateful we are allowed a One on one relationship. Just look out more and less inward. I don’t have, nor have I had for most of my adult life, much opportunity for organized fellowship. I have my family and they are dear and we all understand that being Christ followers does not necessarily mean we have to be church worshippers. It’s a wilderness, but, like your spouse, I also prefer to follow the prompts not the crowd. For all its faults the internet has given me opportunities to ‘fellowship’ with the Remnant all over the world. Like this. 🙂
So happy to have stumbled onto this conversation. I’ve been feeling some of the same mutinous things lately — also just plain concerned that I’m so busy with Christians that there’s no room in my life for the unreached.
At any rate, I want to add my amen to the final verse about God’s faithfulness and express my appreciation for the beautiful imagery of our faith percolating so that others can “smell the coffee.” I’m so glad that you are writing again, Linda.
You know how sometimes the picture is actually made up of thousands of other tiny pictures? Like pixels but each, blown up or examined under a microscope reveal a complete picture of its own?
That’s a glimpse of how it is in the spiritual realm. I made a pact twenty years ago that I would write whatever and whenever God wanted me to and then He would be in charge of deciding the merits and whether or not to bring someone to the words – or not. Even though I have often threatened to stop writing because it feels so pointless, leaving me to question if perhaps He deems my words meritless because I feel exactly like John, crying in the wilderness. And then He reminds me that I don’t have to understand the how or why – just do it with no personal agenda or needs. He handles the rest.
We think we have to do things a certain way because we forget the He Who has no boundaries or limits.
Meema, I’m thankful to have stumbled into the “wilderness” where your words are audible.
You, too, Linda.
Your words, the both of you!, are like a deep fresh breath of air to my soul. Yes. Yes. Yes. Words of faith, shared, lest any be ‘hardened by the deceitfulness of sin’… And this picture of fresh air is particularly relevant for me today as ash collects on my steps just out the window and smoke clouds the heavens. Fire is raging just over the mountain range from us. We are safe but the air is toxic. Hmm…and so we live as strangers and aliens in a toxic world. But then come words of life from sisters in the faith. Thank you both!
Oh fires! Praying for your safety and those directly impacted. We had raging fires in Appalachia mountains early this year. Though we are only in the first rise of the foothills many miles away we were still wrapped in a fog of smoke night and day. Hard to breathe some days.