Mar 23

We should not think it strange, therefore, to learn that God wants to have children, a family. What is unusual, however, is how God goes about getting children. He is not flesh and blood like us. He is spirit (John 4:24).

How does a spirit go about getting children for a family? We do not have to guess. God himself tells us in his Book. It is an amazing story, one with absolutely astounding consequences for our lives.

There is no better place to begin to discover how God fulfills his desire to have children than with the familiar story of Jesus and Nicodemus. It may be that we will see ourselves in this encounter.

The account of the meeting of Jesus and Nicodemus (John 3:1-15) begins with the statement that Nicodemus "came to Jesus at night" (v. 2).

Night and darkness symbolize ignorance and lack of understanding, lack of awareness. Nicodemus truly was in the dark; he did not know how God makes children for himself -- not that to find this out was why he came to Jesus in the first place, of course. Rather, the first thing he is recorded as having said to Jesus concerned the matter of "teaching."

There is so much teaching in the church today. It is good that there is a desire to learn more of God, but it can easily become just another form of learning. We need more than facts; we need to have those facts about God become truths of our daily lives.

May we never reduce our relationship with God down to a matter solely of the mind; it is a matter of the heart.

Scripture for today: John 3(1-15)
Thought for today: Jesus teaches me about God.
Prayer for today: Help me, Jesus, to make the lessons you teach me about God become part of me.

MAR 23