TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.” John 3:5
Read: John 3:1-5
Listen: John 3
TODAY’S MESSAGE
Jesus tells Nicodemus he must be born again. Put yourself in Nicodemus’s place. Think of how foreign this must’ve sounded. Born again, how could anyone be born again? It’s a physical impossibility. Jesus clarifies that he’s not talking about a physical birth but a spiritual one. This isn’t the first time it’s come up in John’s account of Jesus’s life. Two chapters earlier, John says that those who’ve believed in Jesus and receive the life Jesus offers are children of God (John 1:12-13). They’ve been born again into a new family, a spiritual family. It’s a whole new identity. It isn’t something they can achieve but is something to receive.
Jesus is in the business of reshaping our identity. He takes us from death to life. We move from outside the family of God to inside it. There is no more significant shift that will take place in a person’s life. We can’t do anything that would make us more valuable than being children of God. It’s even ridiculous to consider. If God is real, being his child and a part of his family is the ultimate. It should shape every part of us in a way nothing else can.
IN YOUR CHAIR TIME TODAY
Thank God for the new identity as children of God available through Jesus’s death on the cross. Think through how this is the most significant piece of your identity. Reflect on how your perception of yourself has shifted because of what God says about you and where it still needs to shift. Share that with a friend this week.
2023 SPIRITUAL PRACTICES
Join us all of 2023 developing a different spiritual practice each month. SPIRITUAL PRACTICES are intentional regular activities to deepen our relationship with God and mold us to be more like Jesus.
July is SOLITUDE. Keep track of our spiritual practices at beyondtheweekend.org/spiritualpractices.
Download a printable PDF of the BTW week here.
