John 3

Today's reading is out of John 3. I read the whole chapter just like I have the past few days but I am only going to focus on a few verses. You will have to excuse any errors you see. I am using my iPad to type so things are going slower than usual.

As a child, when I was growing up, I really believed everything that anyone told me. It didnt matter if it was a simple or difficult concept. Someone could tell me that they were Superman and I would have believed it. Once I matured, I lost some of my innocence and began to doubt different things that I was told. This wasn't always a negative thing because it meant that I was learning to think for myself. It also meant that I didn't have that childlike faith that I had when I was younger. We see in John 3:4 that Nicodemus questioned Jesus about how a person could be born again. He didn't understand the concept of a spiritual birth after a physical birth and didnt realize that the second birth that Jesus was speaking about was a spiritual birth. Nicodemus doubted that the gift of salvation could be given to him if he chose to take it because he didnt have the faith of a young child anymore. As we grow older, it is easy for our hearts to become hardened by the world around us. We see so much hatred and evil on a daily basis that we doubt the good things that come from God. Nicodemus was also very educated. He was one of the teachers of the law. As I have furthered my education, there have been times when Satan has tempted me to throw God to the side. Being smart and intelligent is good, but we shouldn't forget who gave us that intelligence. We are and never will be so smart that we don't need God's guidance. The gift of salvation is one of those things that we doubt because it is so easy to receive it. We should pray that the hearts of those around us would be softened and willing to accept this gift of salvation and eternal life.

Verse 17 says, "For God did not come to the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him." This verse was one that I pondered for awhile before I came to the conclusion of what I thought that it meant. I also discussed it with a few people and they agreed that while Jesus was here, he was a living example of what we should strive to be like. He was truly "Christlike" every day that he walked this earth. God didnt send Jesus here to tell the world that they were living the wrong way. He did tell them how they should live and he did explain to them the way that the should do things, but he also lived the lifestyle and led by example. When he did reprimand someone, he did it out of love and with a great humility. This is how we should go about telling people about Christ. Condemning someone to hell because of their actions is wrong. Loving someone and showing them the correct way to live is the right way to go about that situation. Don't get me wrong, I do believe we are to confront other believers when they aren't following the right path, but for non believers, the best way to lead them to Christ is to show them his love and TELL them what he has done for you!

John's disciples became angry at one point when Jesus began baptizing people. In a way I can relate to the frustration shown by his disciples. For so long, they had been the ones to handle all of these things and then once Jesus shows up the people give them the boot. They probably felt used and abandoned. John, with his wisdom, knew that they were there to prepare the way for Jesus Christ. He states, "He must increase, but I must decrease." I find this so hard to do with my daily life. In order for God to increase and work in my life, my wants, needs and desires must decrease. I must remain humble and unselfish. That goes against my human nature which is why it's so important to stay in the word of God on a daily basis.

As far as accepting this gift that Jesus gave us when he died on the cross for our sins, we need to be sure that we have asked Jesus to live in our hearts and lead, guide, and direct us on a daily basis. Indecision can become a fatal decision as far as this goes. If we put off accepting Christ, then we could essentially be damning ourselves to hell. We also could be sending others to hell every time we miss an opportunity to tell them about Jesus. This should grieve us. I don't want anyone to go to hell. It's something that has plagued my heart since I was a young child. The thought that there may be others who are suffering an eternity in hell because of missed opportunities to plant or water that seed causes me a lot of heartache. We need to pray for boldness and bravery for these times that we are faced with these situations. Don't miss God. The world tells us that we can be a "good person" and go to heaven because God is love and love wouldn't send someone to hell. That's not true. God is love, but God also gives us free will to choose for ourselves. It is a decision that only we can make when we feel the Holy Spirit drawing us to him. The entrance requirements are easy. 1) repentance and 2) spiritual rebirth. After this, our prayer line to God is always open! He is our strength.

I sincerely hope that this has encouraged those of you who aren't a born again believer to look into these scriptures for yourselves and see what you think. Please email me if you have any questions whatsoever. Also, keep praying that more people will look at the blog and keep sharing the page.
Love in Christ,
Brooke