I made numerous trips to the hospital yesterday. It included good news and bad. The day ended holding a baby close to my chest. As I held her I thought about the heart that was healing from surgery one floor up, the cancer that was claiming its home two floors up, the snow storm that was coming, the stuff going in Syria, the fact that the sign needs to be changed again, the gas pric….
No I didn't. To be honest, reflecting back, I don't remember thinking about anything.
Holding that new life did something. That one day old girl didn't erase everything else, make pressure go away, or protect me or anyone else from anything. But, somehow for 5 minutes she captivated my thoughts from everything else. Tons of potential in a 7 pound body.
Innocent. Needy. Helpless. Holy. She opened her eyes a few times. She grunted. Then she helped me with my sermon for Sunday.
Jesus said to Nicodemus, you're not anywhere near the kingdom unless you're "born again." (John 3) Innocent because of the grace of God. Needy for the direction of God. Helpless without the Spirit of God. Holy through of the presence of God.
I've been thinking. We're following the Lord into a ministry of growing people in Him, but we need to hear the call to be born again. Some of us may have tried to learn to ride a bike in the womb. Birth - then bike.
For some, it may be that's why sin is so hard to leave, empty religion has such a tight hold, faith is shallow, forgiveness is impossible, and transformation has been reduced to self-adjustment. Maybe we've turned being born again into being a better person. Maybe we've surrendered those words to the abuses of the past or sacrificed them on the altar of "there are no absolutes" - I want them back. Born again. Born from above. New Life. Saved. Words that reveal the changed life of following Christ.
I don't hunger for them because they are relevant or old fashioned, but because Jesus said "no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." I'm glad that baby and I had a talk. She had a lot to say.
OK with Baby Talk,
Pastor Dave
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