My Son’s New Life in Christ
September 30, 2009 by Standing on Truth
Filed under Christianity
We walked into church on Sunday, hearts full of joy. And there it was. The white rose symbolizing our son’s new life in Christ. . .the church, celebrating together a 4 year old’s admission that he was a boy who sinned and needed Jesus’ death on a cross some 2,000 years ago to erase those sins. What began with a question, “How do I go to heaven?” ended with a humble and sincere invitation, “Jesus, come into my heart and help me.”
The lessons taught to me through my child have been endless lately:
Converse with God over the simplest of things.
Give Him credit for something as seemingly mundane as helping you to eat your asparagus.
Sing a praise song to Him that you learned at church. . .but sing it to Him in the middle of the week.
Break into spontaneous prayer when your Mommy has a migraine and you want to help her.
Tell others unashamedly that you have Jesus in your heart.
Ask frequently “What’s God saying to me?”
Give in to the joy that Christ places in your heart and laugh without reservation.
As I’ve started reading through the gospel of John again this week, I came to chapter 3 this morning, as I was preparing to write this post. Here is (not coincidently) what it said:
John 3
1 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.
10 Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? 11 I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. 12 But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.“ . . .
31 “He has come from above and is greater than anyone else. We are of the earth, and we speak of earthly things, but he has come from heaven and is greater than anyone else. 32 He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but how few believe what he tells them! 33 Anyone who accepts his testimony can affirm that God is true. 34 For he is sent by God. He speaks God’s words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands. 36 And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.” (NLT, http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%203&version=NLT)
Ahhh, grace. . .redemption. . .love. . .relationship. . .belonging. . .family. Isn’t God beautiful to offer this to us, and now I can say it is equally, if not more, beautiful to see it wash over and transform my son whom I love so dearly.
