Seeing

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

SEEING

John 3:4-8

4 "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" 5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' 8 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." 

NIV

Nicodemus was only thinking in human terms while Jesus was enlightening him with spiritual truths. So often people what to try to understand God in their human capacity, with human understanding, with human concepts, that which they can explain in relationship to what they know. What Jesus is telling Nicodemus is beyond our ability to actually understand completely, we simply have to accept it in faith because Jesus spoke it. Many people, like Nicodemus, cannot see the spiritual, but only the physical, and thus are stuck in the confines of their own minds, their own thinking, their own form of self-imposed prison. People should not be surprised that Jesus said that if we want to enter the kingdom of God we need to be born of the Spirit. If we are confined to our sinful physical form it would be impossible for us not only to enter, but to even be able to see, to visualize the kingdom of God. But we have the Spirit who gives us a new birth, a rebirth of what was a dead spirit within us because of our sin. Our spirit is reborn into a new creature, free from the condemnation of sin, free from the judgment of God. We cannot see this new spirit nor can we show it anyone, for it is simple within, it is who we truly are, who God sees. We need to make sure we continue to see the things of God with our spirit, and not our physical eyes. We need to make sure we do not try to explain the things of God with our intellect, endeavoring to appear spiritual, but in reality only being human. We should continually live in the spirit, walking with God, talking with God, seeing the kingdom we have entered into.