Born Again?

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. My name is Brent Hackett and I titled our reading, Born Again? Born again, what does that mean? asks 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, he recognized that Jesus was different and that his teaching had authority. 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, and believed because he helped prepare the Savior's body for burial after he was crucified. 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. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from John chapter 3, verses 1 to 9. Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.

He came to Jesus at night and said, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him. Jesus replied, Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. How can someone be born when they are old?

Nicodemus asked. Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born. Jesus answered, Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised by saying, You must be born again. The wind blows wherever it pleases.

You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. How can this be? Nicodemus asked. Let's pray. Dear Father, thank you for allowing us to be born again. May your Spirit move in the hearts of those to whom we share the need to be born again. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening today. My name is Brent Hackett and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.