LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, May 27. 2020

“If only I could go back and start over.”

We have all probably said that, or something similar, at some point in our life. It’s especially true after a series of failures. However, it’s not likely that you have ever wanted to go back and start over from birth. If given the choice, we might start at 2 or three, but not as an infant.

When Nicodemus comes to Jesus based on his religious credentials, Jesus informs Him of a traumatic truth.

John 3:3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

The term “born again” instantly causes Nicodemus great concern. He literally takes it literally. But Jesus is making a spiritual truth based on the physical impossibility. While it is impossible to go back into our mother’s womb and be born again, it is equally impossible to enter the Kingdom of God on the basis of human wisdom or religious credentials.

Here is the trauma of this truth. To be born again means to release everything we have ever known or experienced, and trust Jesus alone. That’s not appealing to any of us, and were it not for the grace of God to grant us faith to believe Jesus can do it, we would never participate with what Jesus wants to do. He wants to wipe away every misconception so you can be conceived into the family of God. He wants to eliminate any prideful credentials of our own making and supply us with new credentials based on His worth, not ours. Jesus wants us to be willing to give up any sense of personal value and be born again with His value.

Many of us still wish we could start over, but we place a limit on how far back we would go. Jesus said we must be willing to go all the way back to before we knew or experienced everything, and start completely new in Him. And when we agree, he gives us a life beyond our expectations or imaginations – a life that originates in the eternal glory of God.

Pastor John