Only Believe

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

ONLY BELIEVE

John 3:9-15

9 "How can this be?" Nicodemus asked. 10 "You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? 11 I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven — the Son of Man.   14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.  

NIV

In the continuing conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus we see that Nicodemus is absolutely dumbfounded by what Jesus said about being born again in the Spirit. We see that he is just looking with the human eyes, and not with his spirit. Of course we know that Jesus is talking about his being crucified, being lifted up on a cross as the snake was by Moses. This is so common to us as we have the complete story at our fingertips, but Nicodemus was not privy to all we have and he just could not wrap his mind around the spiritual truths Jesus was unfolding for him. The somewhat surprising thing, or it seems, as nothing really surprises Jesus, is that Nicodemus was a teacher of Israel, he was not a common uneducated man, like perhaps a shepherd or fisherman, or some brick mason, or goldsmith, or even tax collector. He had studies the scriptures, had knowledge of all prophesies, knew the law, taught others in the intricacies of the law, yet he could only see with his eyes, with his human intellect. It seems such a simply thing, believe in the name of Jesus and receive eternal life, yet even today we have so many who depend on their intellectual prowess to understand the intricacies of the scripture, looking for, searching for underlying truths, hidden or essential meaning to appear as one who is spiritual, but in reality is not much unlike Nicodemus, seeing only with physical eyes. We must be careful not to fall into the trap of knowledge that exceeds faith. Satan would like nothing better for us to spend our energies on knowledge rather than faith. Believing does not require full understanding of every aspect, every nuance of every scripture. The truth is that in order to obtain eternal life we simply must believe in Jesus. True once we believe we should endeavor to live by his example, by his teachings, but those are not hidden from us nor are they shrouded in secret phrases that requires only the brightest minds to unveil. Jesus is the one and only need to inherit eternal life. We need only believe.