Born Again?
“Born again? What does that mean?” asked the funeral director. “I’ve never heard of that term before.” Grasping the opportunity, the son of the deceased father explained what it meant through the words of John chapter 3.
“It comes down to the fact that we are all born once into this world,” he said. “God doesn’t have a magic scale where He weighs our good deeds against the bad. God requires us to be born of the Spirit,” he continued. “That’s why Jesus died on the cross—He paid for our sins and made it possible for us to possess eternal life with Him. We can’t make it on our own.”
In John 3, Nicodemus began to doubt if he truly had it all figured out. A trained teacher in the Scriptures (v. 1), he recognized that Jesus was different and that His teaching had authority (v. 2). He wanted to find out for himself, so he approached Christ one night to get the matter settled. Nicodemus must have accepted Jesus’ statement “You must be born again” (v. 7), and believed, because he helped prepare the Savior’s body for burial after He was crucified (John 19:39).
The funeral director agreed to go home and read the third chapter of John’s Gospel. Like the son who talked with the director, let’s take Jesus’ words to heart and share them with others as He helps us.
In Harm’s Way
On my morning walk, I noticed that a vehicle was stopped in the road headed in the wrong direction. The driver was unaware of the danger to herself and others because she was asleep and appeared to be under the influence of alcohol. The situation was perilous, and I had to act. After getting her alert enough to move her to the passenger side of the car so I could get into the driver’s seat, I drove her to a safe place.
Physical danger isn’t the only harm we face. When Paul saw worldly-wise, clever people in Athens in spiritual peril because “the city was full of idols,” he “was greatly distressed” (Acts 17:16). The apostle’s innate response to those who flirted with ideas that failed to consider Christ was to share about God’s purposes in and through Jesus (vv. 18, 30-31). And some who heard believed (v. 34).
Seeking ultimate meaning apart from faith in Christ is dangerous. Those who’ve found forgiveness and true fulfillment in Jesus have been rescued from dead-end pursuits and have been given the message of reconciliation (see 2 Corinthians 5:18-21). Sharing the good news of Jesus with those under the intoxicating influences of this life is still the means God uses to snatch people from harm’s way.
Christ’s Character
Following a challenging tour in Afghanistan, Scott, a sergeant in the British Army, fell apart. He remembered: “I was in a dark place.” But when he “discovered Jesus and began following him,” his life changed radically. Now he seeks to share the love of Christ with others, especially veterans with whom he competes in the Invictus Games, an international event for wounded and injured members and veterans of the armed forces.
For Scott, reading the Bible, praying, and listening to worship music grounds him before going to the Games. God then helps him “to reflect the character of Jesus and show kindness, gentleness, and grace” with the fellow veterans competing there.
Scott names here some of the fruit of the Spirit that the apostle Paul wrote about to the believers in Galatia. They struggled under the influence of false teachers, so Paul sought to encourage them to stay true to God and His grace, being “led by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:18). By doing so, they would then produce the Spirit’s fruit—“love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (vv. 22-23).
With God’s Spirit living within us, we too will burst forth with the Spirit’s goodness and love. We too will show gentleness and kindness to those who surround us.
Search and Rescue
Some friends went boating in the English Channel, hoping the forecast for stormy weather would change. But the winds rose and the waves became choppy, threatening the safety of their vessel, so they radioed for help to the RNLI (the Royal National Lifeboat Institution). After some tense moments, they spotted their rescuers in the distance and realized with relief they’d soon be safe. As my friend reflected gratefully afterward, “Whether or not people ignore the rules of the sea, the RNLI still comes to the rescue.”
As he recounted the story, I thought about how Jesus leads God’s search-and-rescue mission. He came to Earth to become a man, living as one of us. Through His death and resurrection, He provided us with a rescue plan when our sin and disobedience separated us from God. This truth is emphasized by Paul, when writing to the church at Galatia: “The Lord Jesus Christ . . . gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age” (Galatians 1:4). Paul reminded the Galatians of the gift of new life they received through Jesus’s death so that they would honor God day by day.
Jesus, our rescuer, willingly died to save us from being lost. Because He did, we have life in the kingdom of God, and in gratitude we can share the life-saving news with those in our community.
Behind Prison Bars
A star quarterback in American football stepped onto a stage that wasn’t a sports stadium. He spoke to three hundred inmates in the Everglades Correctional Facility in Miami, Florida, sharing with them words from Isaiah.
This moment, though, was not about the spectacle of a famous athlete but about a sea of souls broken and hurting. In this special time, God showed up behind bars. One observer tweeted that “the chapel began to erupt in worship and praise.” Men were weeping and praying together. In the end, some twenty-seven inmates gave their lives to Christ.
In a way, we are all in prisons of our own making, trapped behind bars of our greed, selfishness, and addiction. But amazingly, God shows up. In the prison that morning, the key verse was “I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19). The passage encourages us to “forget the former things” and “do not dwell on the past” (v. 18) for God says, “I, even I, am he who . . . remembers your sins no more” (v. 25).
Yet God makes it clear: “Apart from me there is no savior” (v. 11). It is only by giving our lives to Christ that we are made free. Some of us need to do that; some of us have done that but need to be reminded of who the Lord of our life truly is. We are assured that, through Christ, God will indeed do “a new thing.” So let’s see what springs up!
Being Finishers in Christ
Barbara passed away before she could finish a sweater she was knitting for her great-grandson, Ethan. The sweater was entrusted to the hands of another avid knitter to be completed thanks to an organization that connects volunteer crafters—“finishers”—with those whose loved ones have departed this life before finishing their projects. The “finishers” lovingly invest their time and skill to bring closure to a task that provides comfort to those who are grieving.
God appointed a “finisher” for the prophet Elijah’s work too. Elijah was lonely and discouraged at how the Israelites were rejecting God’s covenant and killing prophets. In response, God instructed Elijah to “anoint Elisha . . . to succeed [him] as prophet” (1 Kings 19:16). This ensured that the labor of proclaiming God’s truth would continue long past Elijah’s death.
To show Elisha that God had called him to succeed Elijah as God’s prophet, Elijah “threw his cloak around [Elisha]” (v. 19). Since a prophet’s cloak was used to indicate one’s authority as God’s chosen spokesman (see 2 Kings 2:8), this act made Elisha’s prophetic call clear.
As believers in Jesus, we’ve been called to share God’s love with others and “declare [His] praises” (1 Peter 2:9). Though the task may outlive us too, we can be assured that He’ll sustain the work and will continue to call other “finishers” to the sacred work of making Him known.
The Winning Goal
On February 5, 2023, Christian Atsu kicked the winning goal for his football (soccer) team in a match in Turkey. A star international player, he learned to play the sport as a kid running barefoot in his home country of Ghana. Christian was a believer in Jesus: “Jesus is the best thing that ever happened in my life,” he said. Atsu posted Bible verses on social media, was outspoken about his faith, and put it into action by helping finance a school for orphans.
The day after his winning goal, a devastating earthquake shook the city of Antakya, once the biblical city of Antioch. Christian Atsu’s apartment building collapsed, and he went to be with his Savior.
Two thousand years ago, Antioch was the fountainhead of the early church: “The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch” (Acts 11:26). One apostle, Barnabas, said to be “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit” (v. 24), was instrumental in bringing people to Christ: “A great number of people believed and turned to the Lord” (v. 21).
We look to the life of Christian Atsu not to idolize him but to see in his example an opportunity. Whatever our circumstance in life, we don’t know when God will take us to be with Him. We do well to ask ourselves how we can be a Barnabas or a Christian Atsu in showing others the love of Christ. That, above all, is the winning goal.
Every Moment Counts
When the Titanic hit an iceberg in April 1912, Pastor John Harper secured a spot for his six-year-old daughter in one of the limited number of lifeboats. He gave his life-vest to a fellow passenger and shared the gospel with anyone who would listen. As the vessel sank and hundreds of people awaited an unlikely rescue, Harper swam from one person to another and said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31 kjv).
During a meeting for survivors of the Titanic in Ontario, Canada, one man referred to himself as “the last convert of John Harper.” Having rejected Harper’s first invitation, the man received Christ when the preacher asked him again. He watched as Harper devoted the last moments of his life to sharing Jesus before succumbing to hypothermia and sinking below the surface of the icy water.
In his charge to Timothy, the apostle Paul encourages a similar urgency and dedication to selfless evangelism. Affirming God’s constant presence and the inevitable return of Jesus, Paul charges Timothy to preach with patience and precision (2 Timothy 4:1-2). The apostle reminds the young preacher to remain focused, though some people will reject Jesus (vv. 3–5).
Our days are limited, so every moment counts. Like Paul and Pastor Harper, we can be confident that our Father secured our spot in heaven as we proclaim, “Jesus saves!” (vv. 6-8).
Tell Them What God Did
My college friend Bill Tobias has served as a missionary on a Pacific island for many years. He tells the story about a young man who left his hometown to seek his fortune. But a friend took him to church where He heard the good news Jesus offers, and he trusted Christ as his Savior.
The young man wanted to take the gospel to his people and looked for a missionary to reach his people who were “steeped in sorcery.” But the missionary told him to simply “go tell them what God did for you.” And that’s what he did. Several people in his hometown received Jesus, but the biggest breakthrough came when the town’s witch doctor realized that Christ was the “way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). After he put his faith in Jesus, he told the whole town about Him. Within four years, the witness of one young man had led to the establishment of seven churches in the region.
In 2 Corinthians, Paul sets forth a clear plan for introducing the gospel to those who don’t yet know Christ—and it aligns with what that missionary told the young believer in Jesus. We are to be “Christ’s ambassadors”—His representatives “as though God [is] making his appeal through us” (5:20). Every believer has a unique story to tell of how Jesus made them a “new creation . . . who reconciled” them to God (vv. 17–18). Let’s tell others what He’s done for us.
