How do you get to God? Can enough works get me there? Can good behavior? Can religious posturing get me there? What must I do?
The Question. A man came to Jesus with a very hungry heart. He was reasonably educated, a good religious person, but was blown away by the works that Jesus could do. He knew God was with him but did not understand. The questions in Nicodemus’s heart could not be quenched, so he came to see Jesus in person. Jesus shocked him by talking of being born again…being born by the Spirit instead of the flesh.
The Wind. Jesus went further, which baffled Nicodemus, explaining that being born again by the Spirit is like the wind. It blows but you cannot see it. You can see its effects, but you cannot see it. In clear air, you cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes. So poor Nicodemus was getting the picture: we cannot reach God in our own efforts. It takes the Spirit blowing on our soul.
The Picture. Look at the picture of the frozen ice hanging from the rope. It’s tilted from the wind. I remember the late winter morning. I thought the night had been still, but when I saw the rope that was iced from the night before, I knew there had been an imperceptible quiet light wind. I would not have known about it except the ice that formed on the rope from the freezing drizzle was all slanted from the wind. So it is with the Spirit. He moves but we don’t see it, but we can see the effects if He has touched something, like our souls.
Are you wasting life trying to drum up God? If you pursue excellence, goodness (if you know what it is), or any other thing to try to get to God, it would be better to consider Jesus’ statements to Nicodemus in the third chapter of John. If you choose to believe in Him whole-heartily, He will do something in your soul that you cannot do. He will move upon it by the Spirit and bring it alive. He paid a very large price to pave the way so that a searching soul can find life if that soul will repent, or change direction, and believe in the Son of God.
Are you a believer trying to move with God? Do not forget the conversation with Nicodemus, or the actions by so many believers in Acts. It takes the Spirit of God to produce anything of eternal value. You cannot drum Him up or command His action by your self-efforts. You have to move by the Spirit…by that same Spirit that birthed you into the Kingdom. It is an easy thing to forget. Yep, we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, but it is by His grace, by the moving of the Spirit of Jesus, by the Wind of God that we walk. Otherwise, whatever we produce will be worth very little. Friend, trust in God. Move by Spirit and not the flesh. Remember how you were saved? That is how you should walk.
