What's Wrong with Amazement?

Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' (John 3:7)

So this question comes to my mind when I read this verse, Why did Jesus tell Nicodemus to not be amazed or to marvel? What is it about this word or the implications surrounding it that is something we are not supposed to do in certain situations?

I looked up this word in Greek and then followed each time it was used throughout the New Testament. What I discovered were some very interesting applications, especially when we are instructed not to do it or are warned about it. Here is Strong's definition of this word along with some ways it is translated.

To wonder; by implication, to admire:– admire, have in admiration, marvel, wonder, surprise, astonished.

Many times this word is used to describe people's reaction to the miracles or the words and wisdom of Jesus. It is sometimes even used to describe Jesus' reaction to certain situations. But what interested me was when it was used in close association with the issue of belief. Notice especially when Jesus experienced this emotion.

Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, "Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. (Matthew 8:10)

Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, "I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith." (Luke 7:9)

And He wondered at their unbelief. And He was going around the villages teaching. (Mark 6:6)

It has long intrigued me that something could amaze Jesus. And the only places that I find record of that is when either someone had unusual displays of faith or when the majority of people seemed so devoid of faith that it prevented Him from conveying the blessing to them that He desired to do.

The following texts are grouped around instructions or comments that seem to warn of something.

Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, (John 5:28)

Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you. (1 John 3:13)

But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, "Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk? (Acts 3:12)

Then there is this interesting twist using a command to be amazed in relationship to belief.

Beware, therefore, that what the prophets said does not happen to you: 'Look, you scoffers! Be amazed and perish, for in your days I am doing a work, a work that you will never believe, even if someone tells you.'" (Acts 13:40-41 NRSV)

The following verses actually have this Greek word doubled in the original which is always done for great emphasis. The effect is largely lost when translated into English.

Jesus answered them, "I did one deed, and you all marvel." (John 7:21)

I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; (Revelation 13:3)

And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered greatly. And the angel said to me, "Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. "The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come. (Revelation 17:6-8)

Now here are some texts where people were amazed at Jesus in ways other than just for a miracle He had performed.

When the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that He had not first ceremonially washed before the meal. (Luke 11:38)

While they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" (Luke 24:41)

At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why do You speak with her?" (John 4:27)

For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. (John 5:20)

This next verse includes the element of fear which also is often related to amazement.

And He said to them, "Where is your faith?" They were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, "Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?" (Luke 8:25)

We humans have this inherent assumption that miracles will somehow cause us to believe. We are often very excited and even addicted to the ideas of miracles sometimes and quite often pray for miracles to happen in our own lives or with those around us. That is not necessarily wrong, but I have noticed that there seems to be a subtle deceptive power often linked with amazement and miracles that God tries to warn us about. It is simply not true – even though it feels like it should be true – that genuine belief and faith will naturally spring up in reaction to stunning miracles.

I have experienced this strange twist of logic in my own life on a number of occasions. I can distinctly recall the sensation and even frustration inside emotionally whenever it became clear to me that God had answered some prayer, even in a dramatic way in my life; but upon examining my heart at that moment I realized that the faith that I expected to see springing up had suddenly become full of questions and rationalizations. I realized then that there was a foreign voice inside of me that was quick to offer up reasons why maybe this wasn't really a miracle after all or maybe it was just a coincidence or maybe....

It is at those times that I am reminded of my fallen nature that will never acknowledge the truth about God and His power in my life. Another lie that I have noticed inside of me is a hope that maybe given enough miracles and proof that my fallen nature will finally admit that God is right and change its opinion. But upon reflection I realize that is never going to happen.

Faith then becomes a choice that I have to make that is not dependent on irrefutable evidence. There are very many examples in history of those who failed to believe even in the face of overwhelming miracles and providences of God. Faith is not the by-product of miracles but is a choice to believe the truth about God in the face of everything insisting the opposite.

As I have spent time contemplating this I feel that I am just beginning to perceive this important link between amazement and belief. I realize that Jesus warns us to not be so keen on wanting things to marvel at as crutches for our faith. In fact, marveling and amazement may actually become a substitute for faith which may be why God warned Nicodemus about getting sidetracked into this mode of feeling and thinking.

Marvel and amazement may often actually become obstacles to faith. Wow! What does that say about our incessant desires for miracles in our lives and churches? But if we look at the history of salvation all along it can be seen repeatedly that faith and belief often had to thrive in the absence of miracles and even emotions of amazement many times. And often miracles are used to attract people away from the real truth about God instead of confirming it.

Yes, there are going to be plenty of opportunities for amazement and marvel when God unexpectedly shows up. We will be repeatedly amazed as God moves in hearts and performs wonders in response to our requests of faith. But when it comes to securing the foundation for faith it appears to me, at this point anyway, that amazement and even miracles are the wrong things to depend on as a stable footing on which to build our house.

Do not be amazed that I said to you... Evidently amazement can sometimes get in the way of really listening to what God has to say to our heart. When our emotions get so caught up in the external power of God and demonstrations of the supernatural, it can prevent our heart from hearing the still, small voice of God to our souls. Elijah had to learn that in his retraining exercise on the mountain and it is a lesson that has to be repeated again and again in all of our lives.

Belief is more important than amazement.

As I think about this I realize that amazement and wonder are things that tend to happen to us, that are induced in our emotions by external exhibitions of power or stunning performances. On the other hand, true belief and faith involve choices that we must make with or without the aid of evidences of God's glory and presence. Since true religion is both heart-based and intellectually rooted in truth, faith that bonds us to God's heart will require ongoing choices to continue to respond to the drawing of Jesus. Sometimes that will be easy in the light of glorious and exciting miracles and other times it may be excruciating when everything seems to scream that God is far away and has forgotten us. But faith, hope and love are the precious stones upon which we must build our experience if we are to be prepared to live in God's presence. And cultivating those things in our lives will require paying attention to what God is saying no matter how amazed we feel or how dull life appears.

God, I really enjoy being amazed like most people do. But thank-you for reminding me that there are even more important things to pay attention to. That does not mean that it's always wrong to be amazed, it just means that I must be careful not to depend on those kinds of feelings to be the basis of my relationship with You. Fill me with Your love and surround me with Your presence today to bring glory and honor to Your reputation.

Dual Identity

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:6)

Coming from where my thoughts led me yesterday, I see in this verse new perspectives about heritage and identity.

There are a number of different ways to view what this text may be indicating, and it may not be necessary to assume that it must only mean one particular thing. I have heard discussions presenting various interesting ideas about what these words may be implying and most of them have good merit to validate them. Right now what I sense here is that being born of flesh means that I am first born as a human being and being born of the Spirit involves embracing my identity as part of the new race of humans that was formed in the person of Jesus Christ the Son of Man.

What I have been learning in recent years that was never part of my upbringing is the fact that all of humanity has been redeemed at the cross. Jesus revealed on Calvary that God has unconditionally forgiven all sins as far as what is in His heart is concerned. But what remains is the effects of sin in our hearts that yet needs to be removed and healed (the English word forgiven) before we are safe to come into full fellowship with Him.

While it is becoming more clear to me that salvation is far broader and more real than I have ever perceived before, it is also clear that just because everyone has been given eternal life does not automatically mean they will all experience that for eternity. There is a choice that has to be made by each person in regards to this new reality created by Jesus. There is a choice to embrace and experience this thing that Jesus describes as a new birth in order for humans to benefit and accept personally from all that God has put into place to save us from the effects and infection of sin. It is like receiving medicine for fatal illness that is guaranteed to cure us but failing to take that medicine. Unless we believe and continue to embrace the salvation provided for us we can still suffer the wages of sin that infects our hearts and lives.

Looking at this from the perspective of entering fully into a new kind of humanity, I see this verse as alluding to my need to believe both the truths about God and the truths about my own new ancestry in Christ. In fact, it may be that I experience something like dual citizenship, though my loyalty must be firmly placed only on the new family/kingdom that I have been adopted into and not have conflict of loyalties with my old kingdom inherited from sinful Adam. Paul elaborates on this considerably when he talks about the old and new Adams and how it relates to our identity. But all of this is to say that Jesus formed the foundation of this new kingdom and literally fathered in the spirit realm a new race of humans into which everyone is to be adopted or grafted in, whichever analogy we wish to choose.

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:29)

My choices as to how I perceive my heritage through ancestry is very important, for they strongly influence my sense of identity and worth. Humans are wired to cling tenaciously to their association with their ancestors and draw their sense of purpose, identity and destiny from their past. God made us this way, so in order to provide us with a new sense of identity and destiny He also had to provide us with a new history. In this new breed of humanity we can learn that our history can effectively be viewed now as really His-story instead of the sordid past that we assumed was ours by birth from our sinful human fathers.

This is something that I really want to understand and experience much more clearly myself. I was introduced to this a number of years ago and the effect on my spirit was profound. But because it was not real clear and not reinforced enough, the effects on my life have been far too limited. I find myself being reminded of this again as I look at this passage and again desire to experience much more clarity about my true identity in Christ. I want to more deeply rest and rejoice in this new kingdom/race that Jesus is drawing me into.

Re-incarnation

Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" (John 3:4)

There really are all sorts of threads to follow in this passage that take one on different routes to arrive at the same place. As with most conversations, this one between Jesus and Nicodemus contains two separate dialogues – one that is going on at the surface and another going on between the lines. But the second one is always the more important one to learn to discern because that is the conversation of the heart, the real discussion taking place that is usually masked by the external things being talked about.

After Nicodemus' initial introduction, Jesus immediately addressed his blind spot. He did this because He could see the heart of Nicodemus, past his outward courtesy and diplomacy and deep into the inner longings and true desires that were growing more intense in the mind and feelings of Nicodemus. Instead of playing along with the line of reasoning that Nicodemus introduced, Jesus chose to go straight to the point of exposing what was really blocking Nicodemus from experiencing real life and thriving spirituality. But as He did so Nicodemus found himself reacting with typical religious resistance to such candid and open talk about frightening and sensitive issues in his heart that were almost never mentioned with words.

Sadly, religion has become one of the biggest obstacles to connecting our hearts with God, our Father, Redeemer and Lover. Masquerading as the means of getting saved and becoming more like God, religion has far more often done just the opposite because of its penchant for clinging to mistaken views of what God is like. Nicodemus was a man steeped in religion very much like many of us today and displayed similar symptoms of confusion and distorted ideas about reality and God. That is partly why many of us struggle so much today to grasp the real meaning and power of these words of Jesus. It is because we, just like Nicodemus, find ourselves automatically resisting the plainness of Jesus' approach and the radically different nature of reality as viewed by God from what we assume.

Jesus stated very bluntly that unless a person is born again, born of the water and of spirit, there is no way that they can either see or enter into the real kingdom of heaven. This is in stark contrast to how easy it is to become identified with professed religion which claims to be the kingdom of heaven on earth. Even the most stringent and exclusive kinds of religion are easier to identify with than true spirituality God's way because religion is so often formula based, externally oriented, left-brain heavy and humanly measurable.

Even emotionally-oriented religions depend on external measurements and human controls to elicit counterfeit ways of producing effects and emotions that simulate what we suppose a really spiritual person might look like. But the common denominator in all of these counterfeits is that we still remain self-focused, we still to some degree are depending on our own efforts and achievements to save ourselves, we want to keep at least a little of our own pride in tact in order to cling to our own sense of worth. For at the bottom of our hearts, we all desire to feel valuable, to be viewed as important to someone else, to be seen as worthy in some way of being loved and cherished, at least a little bit. But the human heart has been wired by sin to believe that we must do something ourselves to contribute to our own value, at least to some extent, and so we subscribe to whatever label of religion that most closely fits our assumptions about what God demands of us to achieve that.

Jesus is confronting these assumptions generated by religion and false views of God. He is presenting a starkly different path to reconciliation with our Father, the very thing that our heart really wants the most but does not know how to do. We have all been born as sin-tainted humans and because of that it is impossible for us to naturally be able to figure out how to extricate ourselves from the inherent deceptions, fears and twisted thinking that sin has preconditioned us to believe. As children of fallen Adam we have all inherited the iniquities of our fathers all the way down from him. Only the man Jesus has the inherent ability to perceive humanity and reality from God's perspective without the distortion of false lenses, because He did not have a human father through which to inherit iniquities. Although He was fully human through His mother, He was not partaker of our sinful propensities and rebellion against God that everyone else received through their fathers from Adam.

Jesus did something very amazing when He was born as a human being without a human father. What actually took place was the formation and rebirth of an entire species – humankind. Jesus literally created an new species that had a divine origin clean of all infection and iniquity by becoming a human without the inherited contamination passed down through fathers. In doing so, He created an alternative form of humanity that would be completely free of all the curse that other humans found impossible to escape. That is why there is no other way to be saved except through Jesus Christ.

Religion has assumed that when the Bible teaches that we must be saved exclusively through the name of Jesus only that it means that people must externally acknowledge some list of facts or beliefs about Jesus being the Son of God. But this is very typical of external religion and misses the main point of why Jesus became human. It also misses the many explanations by Paul and other apostles about the idea of being “in Christ” and that salvation has come to every person. When we begin to really grasp what it means to be in Christ – not the confusing ideas bantered about by popular Christianity but the really powerful, life-transforming, heart-based new-birth version of this concept – then we will begin to experience the reflection of the face of God beginning to glow through our lives and countenances – everyone who has begun to really experience this new species of humans.

Jesus is stating here that every person who wants to enter into full participation in this new species called the kingdom of heaven has to begin by being born into it. This involves an incarnation very much like the one Jesus experienced. It is not enough to only be born as a human to start with, though that is a prerequisite. This new species is only for those who start out as humans. Of course, by default all humans except Jesus start out infected by sin and rebellion and selfishness. Jesus is here laying out more clearly God's plan to save everyone who will embrace the real truth about how God feels about them and how to enter into God's way of rescuing them from their hopeless, lost condition.

Entering into this kingdom is through the means of being born a second time as a different kind of human, a human that contains the reincarnation of God Himself. For to be a real Christian a person must experience the birth of Jesus Himself incarnated within them, not just as a historical figure to talk about or emulate. Entering into this kingdom requires a radical change in belief in our own identity based on God's redemption through Jesus. And it also requires a transformation in the way we view God's feelings towards us.

Sequence

I just noticed something in John 3 here that I have not noticed before. This discussion seems to talk a lot about what we can or cannot do along with what must happen if one wants to be a part of God's kingdom. Now that I think of it it seems a little unusual for Jesus to be so intent on talking about the word do. Many other times when people came to Him and asked what they must do He often steered the conversation to the issue of belief. But here He seems to start out with the doing discussion.

...no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus *said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (John 3:2-5)

What I see next seems to focus around what we know or don't know.

"The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus said to Him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony." (John 3:8-11)

At this point I now see the transition into what we do or do not believe. It is very like Jesus to guide nearly every discussion to talking about what we believe.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

...so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." (John 3:11-12, 15-16, 18)

The last thing I see in this sequence is a discussion about judgment. Judgment at its core meaning is a revealing, an exposure of what is believed deep in the heart, far beyond our mental profession or claims or systems of intellectual beliefs. Judgment is all about revealing for everyone to see the real motives and attitudes and gut-level nature of what is actually going on inside of us.

"For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name (truth about His character) of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God." (John 3:17-21)

Why does this last part talk about deeds instead of motives? I always assumed deeds referred to external behavior that was evident to the public to start with. But if that is true then it would make no sense to be afraid of Light for fear of being exposed.

I believe what is implied here is that those who are afraid of the Light of real truth exposing what is deep in the heart are afraid of having their selfish motives exposed that underly all of their external righteousness. The Pharisees were quite intent on their outward deeds being evident and public, but their tended to get very upset whenever Jesus came along and began to expose their true motives and the real condition of their hearts. So it seems to me that Jesus is here using shorthand to link the word deeds in this case to the real motives of the heart that underlies those deeds. Otherwise there would be no reason for fear to be involved.

I also find this passage very instructive about the true nature of judgment. Jesus stated very clearly that God never condemns us. We have assumed that judgment and condemnation are one and the same thing. Because of this deeply embedded assumption we have, the Bible sometimes uses judgment interchangeably with the more accurate use of the same word in regards to revealing, so one needs to examine the context to see which way it is being intended. But here Jesus lays out heaven's perspective on real judgment which is simply the exposure of what is hidden inside of us.

As I take a broader overview of this passage it is finally becoming more clear to me that this whole discourse really is a synopsis of the gospel as it is in Jesus. I have spent years very frustrated in not being able to crack the “code” that seemed to enshroud this passage for me personally. I have heard many discourses on it, memorized sections of it, been taught all kinds of doctrines and ideas from it and heard it thrown around like candy for nearly all of my life. But it was so vague and generalized and lacking in demonstration that I felt inoculated to experiencing the real significance of these words of Jesus.

Even now I feel like I am only getting slight glimmers of the real meaning of these words. I have to confess that I feel very much like Nicodemus when I read this. I am baffled, confused and even somewhat dismayed as I hear what sounds like a secret code or a foreign language that is so strange and different from the familiar religion that I have been taught all of my life. And even though these words have been used very often in the Christian culture that I grew up in, the real meaning behind them is nearly just as confusing for me as they were for Nicodemus when he first heard them.

I feel somewhat sad that it has taken nearly 50 years for me to begin to figure out what this passage is really saying to my heart. It is also a sad commentary on the effectiveness of the religions around me, that they are so distracted by other priorities (like behavior control) that even though they have nearly worn out this passage they still are unable to get across to many people the real life-changing truths about God so close to the surface in this passage. I suspect it is not from lack of trying but much more from a lack of personal experience of this truth so that the life of the speaker is congruent with the message they are attempting to convey.

Along that line I still have to confess that I have the very same problem. One of my areas of greatest discomfort is that my face and my vocal inflections are all too often out of harmony with the exciting truths that I try to share with people. This is so much of a problem that it often even irritates me while I am talking sometimes. I feel trapped in a body and a personality that is partially stuck in the past while my heart is trying to move on to something very new and different and passionate. When I get close to God's presence my insides feel like they come alive but my outsides feel like a hardened shell and refuse to allow most of what is inside to be evident in my demeanor and expressions. Sort of sounds a lot like Romans 7 to me.

One more important thing I want to mention before I close this out. What I see this morning here in this passage is a clearer picture of the sequence that someone else pointed out to me recently. They used these words to describe the sequence in this way:

• Our actions and behaviors are caused by what we feel. We tend to do things because we feel like doing them.

• Our feelings come from the things we think. The way our thoughts flow produce feelings which then lead to actions.

• Our thoughts are a product of what we really believe. Our beliefs form the guidance system for what we choose to think about or the direction in which our thoughts gravitate. These beliefs do include our intellectual beliefs but much more so our gut-level, emotional belief system that has much more influence over us than our professed beliefs.

• Our beliefs at the heart level are formed by our perceptions of what we see. This means that how we perceive reality, how we really view ourselves and most importantly how we perceive God and how He feels about us are the foundational basis for our real beliefs.

So how we see God determines what we believe which determines how we think which affects the way we feel which causes most of our behaviors.

The real problem lies in that we tend to usually focus more on trying to control or change our behavior instead of paying attention to the deepest root cause back at the other end of this chain of motivation.

The more that I have thought about this sequence the more I sense that it is absolutely true. And given this truth I begin to see that to make any real lasting change in my life or to help anyone else effectively, I must always focus on addressing the root of this sequence instead of wasting a lot of time at the other end trying to manage the symptoms of external behaviors. Behavior management generally produces a lot of hypocrisy because it fails to address the core issues, the heart beliefs linked with our distorted pictures of God deep in our soul.

As I looked over this passage this morning I noticed for the first time a very similar outline of this sequence. Jesus started where Nicodemus was focused, on the externals and his desire to be a good religious person and be accepted by God. This is in the realm of behavior which is where most religious people think all the important stuff exists. But Jesus quickly took Nicodemus back through the sequence all the way to what was going on at the heart level and his mistaken views about how God felt about him in order to show Nicodemus where the real problem lay.

Nicodemus was focusing on the outward signs that he had noticed in Jesus' life and was attracted to possibly be a part of this intriguing new kingdom emerging before him. So Jesus started there and led him back through the fact that these signs could not be experienced until things at the heart level were radically different – as different as being born all over again as a new person. Then He shared with Nicodemus that what you do comes from what you know, and what you know comes from what you believe at the heart level. What you believe about religion and about life will be shaped mostly by what you believe about God and what you think about God will be seen in whether you are willing to come closer to the Light or are afraid of being exposed.

The Light is the fuller revelation of the truth about God as revealed in the attitudes, actions and spirit that surrounded the life of Jesus while on this earth. The main purpose Jesus came to this earth was to reveal the real truth about God which is really judgment. This new, greater revelation about how God feels about us is such a strong light that everyone who clings to other ideas about God become very nervous whenever this Light begins to expose their false opinions. Jesus says that men loved darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.

Again, I believe that when Jesus speaks of deeds here He is strongly implying both outward actions, but even more so the inward motives behind our actions. He is saying that our righteous deeds are actually rooted in evil motives of selfishness and desires rooted in pride. When we are living in a counterfeit religious system – which is all religions other than what Jesus demonstrated – we are going to find ourselves fearful whenever the real truth about God comes close to us. We naturally resist the truth about God because it always threatens to expose the falseness of our deeply cherished opinions about life, reality and religion.

But anyone who is ready to let go of false and ineffective religion and allow the real truth about God as revealed in Jesus to come into their heart and draw them toward God's heart, those people are going to be the ones who will want to come to the Light. Jesus says that they practice the truth. This is not a talking about lots of effort to be a good person or having the right list of facts. This means that when a person is willing to be real, to be transparent about what is really going on in their heart and is willing to have God expose their insides and connect to their heart, they can be drawn closer to this revelation of God's true character and will not be afraid of real judgment.

To live from the heart and allow Jesus to do the work He wants to do at that much deeper level is to let go of all fear of being manifested and exposed. And when we live from the heart and are open and honest with God and ourselves as God is increasing the level of light in our souls, that kind of living is what Jesus says is wrought in God.

Analyzing Birth

Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3)

I have felt for many years as one unqualified to make too many kinds of emphatic declarations about the real meaning of this phrase born again. I am very aware that it is used quite widely in Christian circles and is even bantered about in politics sometimes, but this has only led to widespread skepticism on the part of many about the authenticity of people's claims to having experienced this phenomenon.

So, how do I try to unpack something that I still feel unsure that I even yet really understand it well? To avoid thinking about it is certainly the wrong direction to turn, for according to Jesus this experience in a person's life lies at the very root of everything else if one desires to really be a part of God's kingdom. There is no shortage of demonstrations of people giving false meanings to this idea in the context of pervasive counterfeit systems of religion that all of us are familiar with. But what I desire to know is exactly how to enter into the genuine experience of being authentically born again.

I really am weary of the worn-out usage of this terminology to justify or promote all sorts of gimmicks and religious assertions in various churches. I am just as skeptical as most others about the claims of many people having experienced this event in their lives, though I do find their claims interesting. I am not saying that all of these claims are false, but it seems to me that the very nature of rebirth and what I have been learning about the Spirit of Jesus over the past few years would imply that people who are genuinely born again will not likely be going around trumpeting that fact to gain advantages for themselves. That sounds much more like the spirit of the Pharisee's than the spirit of Jesus.

I was very recently listening to one of my favorite teachers talk about a topic along this line and need to go back and listen to it again very carefully. He was explaining that all throughout the Bible this point of transition is referred to, but from different perspectives. This can be cause for great confusion if we are not aware of the nature of how different this appears depending on what angle you approach it.

He uses the analogy of a door that can be viewed from two sides. When we view this door from the side of the flesh, our human natural perspective that we have grown up with, our normal view of reality, this door is always going to look like a threat to us. It represents death and all the fear and pain that goes with that.

But after a person has voluntarily chosen in this context to pass through that doorway and emerges out the other side of this death experience, when they look back at the very same door, instead of seeing death and pain and fear all they see is the beginning of new life, a life so rich and abundant and satisfying that they nearly completely forget about the pain and death that intimidated them so much from the other side of that door. From this new perspective this door was the new birth experience that Jesus is talking about here; it was their initial entrance into the kingdom of God, the initiation into the family of God where they find fulfillment, joy, meaningful and enriching relationships and perfect peace. That is not to say they have no more problems but that they now have new meaning and purpose for their lives in the midst of everything else going on.

But when we read various passages in the Bible we can often become very confused by sometimes hearing it referred to as death and other times being viewed as the initiation into life and joy and peace. To our normal way of reasoning these two simply are not naturally compatible with each other. It makes little sense at all to believe that one can enter into greater life by giving up life.

Yes, I am aware that we teach this formula all the time in religion. But I am talking about our gut-level beliefs and feelings here, not our professions and intellectual assertions that we throw around with religious jargon. True and effective religion is only that which is rooted in what our heart really believes, not just in what our minds accept as true from what we are taught or have been convinced. In fact, much of the time our religious assertions get in the way of being able to identify what we really believe at the gut-level and it often takes a severe crisis to expose the real beliefs that control the direction and reveal the real motivations of our life.

I have been committed for some time to searching for and examining my own inner self to discover as much as possible what is really going on deep inside. This can be very unnerving at times and quite frightening when deep feelings and false assumptions are unmasked in the right side of my brain that shock and dismay the left side of my brain. Typically my left brain reacts in ways that want to mask or repress these incriminating feelings and beliefs, but I have been learning over the past few years that this is not the right way to move into real life and honesty and freedom. I need to push back against the natural tendencies to hide from my own faults and mistaken ideas about reality and to push into the pain produced by the lies buried in my past memories so that I can expose myself more intentionally to the healing presence of Jesus in each one of these pockets of darkness.

One of the reasons I struggle with this idea of being born again is because of the popular belief and assumption by most Christians that this is something that happens in a specific moment of time and generally only happens once to a person. Again, these are assumptions that I challenge and believe are fundamentally not sound. It is not always true that a person must experience a dramatic rebirth experience all in one moment of time. It is also not true that experiencing this only once is enough to secure a person into a permanent saving relationship with Jesus. I know this may sound like blatant heresy to the minds of many people, but I have observed too many examples that challenge these assumptions about a single birth, once-saved-always-saved mentality to be able to give it any credence.

I believe that it may be that some people experience a new birth transition over quite a prolonged period of time. Now, maybe I am not correctly identifying just what is meant by this birth experience – that is certainly possible since I don't consider myself a strong authority on this subject and am somewhat skeptical about those who claim to be such. But I have just seen too many people including myself that experience a slow growing transition from the old way of thinking to a completely different perspective of reality that takes a long time.

This has sometimes led me to seriously question whether I have indeed ever really experienced the new birth at all or whether I am just pretending or fooling myself. I am sure there are people around who might like to reinforce that opinion about me, but I believe there is room for wide differences in how people come into the kingdom of God. I am not saying that there are other doors through which they may enter, but I am saying that some people's personalities and experience appears very different and causes them to come into relationship with God through very externally different-looking means than others.

Probably the most popular example of a dramatic and apparently quick new-birth experience is that of Saul on the road to Damascus. But even when I look at that story closely it becomes evident that this was simply the external revelation and climax of a long process of conversion that well may have been developing over many years in Saul's heart. And just because the story does not go into detail about all that was transpiring inside of Saul over those previous years does not mean that it was not taking place over time. Most of the events in the Bible are quite condensed which leaves many details to be discovered by implication. And in everyone's life, I believe that the Spirit of God works over long periods of time to prepare a person for certain points of climax which we often label a new-birth encounter with God. And it may also be true that there are quite a number of these climax points as a person is exposed to more and more truths about what God is really like that they never believed before.

So is a one-time new-birth experience enough to initiate a person permanently into the kingdom of God? Or is there more that needs to take place to keep them there?

This is where things can get very touchy with theologians and religious people of all stripes. This can be a source of very explosive arguments and debate that I have little interest in getting caught up in. But I do believe that though our salvation itself is secure, that security is not based on our own new birth encounter with God but on the unconditional forgiveness that has already been a reality in the heart of God from eternity.

Now that I begin to see it more clearly from that perspective it begins to make even more sense to me how this new birth experience may fit into the puzzle. I have never really thought about it this way before. Again, possibly yet another false assumption about God is emerging into my consciousness here. That is the idea that by my conversion or new birth or whatever term might be used, that I can somehow contribute in some way to my own salvation. This gets to the core issues of what place my willpower and choice has in relationship to my being saved in the end. And what I believe in this regard will strongly influence or determine the surrounding assumptions and beliefs about many other related issues.

I am praying for insight, wisdom and guidance to understand this more clearly. I want to have a clearer understanding of what Jesus was trying to explain to Nicodemus and get past all the preconceived ideas and assumptions and teachings from my past. And not only that, I also want to experience the assurance more fully at the heart level that comes from passing through this doorway into life. If that needs to happen on a daily basis then I want to be willing to do that daily.

Does this imply that each day when I wake up I am outside of God's family of life again? No, I don't think that is necessary to assume. But on the other hand, the false beliefs and teachings of many churches about assurance of salvation causes many people to neglect securing their own salvation because they assume that some experience they had with God years ago is all that is necessary for them to be saved in heaven. But this false kind of assurance leads many to neglect their salvation and fail to have their characters prepared to enjoy the very heaven that they believe they are destined to inherit.

It is very clear from the Bible that there is more to salvation than simply having an encounter or experience of conversion and new birth. Just as a baby must experience much more than a birth experience to continue to be viable in this world, so too must Christians experience much more than initiation into God's family if they want to remain alive and thrive the way they were intended to by God. Does that mean that they must pass through the birth canal spiritually over and over to stay a Christian? Not necessarily. But if they fail to daily have their spiritual connection with God nurtured, then they may die and find themselves back on the other side of that door once again and in need of being born all over again.

By what I have read in the Bible, this may or may not be able to happen very often. If a person dies spiritually after they have genuinely experienced the incredible goodness and sweetness of God, something inside of them is destroyed, some part of them that enables them to be drawn to God's goodness and love in the first place. And while it is not impossible for them to be born yet again it becomes much more difficult the second time because of their reduced capacity to respond to God's love and grace. This is referred to in Hebrews 6 where it says that it is impossible to return to a relationship with God under certain conditions.

But after looking carefully at this passage, I believe that when a person has not really experienced the truth about God and turns away from Him because of misunderstandings or misrepresentations about Him by religion, that God can still bring them back and reintroduce them to Himself using fresh revelations of His goodness and character to appeal to their hearts.

But it is also true that those who really have entered into a rich and deep experience with God and have been filled with His Spirit and have lived in His presence; when these people chose to turn their back on His love for them and embrace lies about Him through lust, greed, pride or any other choice – they will find themselves incapacitated to return into an intimate relationship with God. They have destroyed their own heart's ability to respond to the very attractions that God uses to draw people to Himself. They have so damaged their own respect and desire for goodness and truth about God that it is impossible for them to be attracted to Him effectively again. They lose their ability to feel the right kind of desire that is needed to experience a saving relationship with Jesus.

So, if this new birth that Jesus was talking about is referring to entering into a full, intimate relationship with God at a deep level, then it could be seen as a one-time experience possibly. But if it is referring to a change of mind about God, a turning from lies about God to embracing fresh revelations of His heart to them, then I can see this being a repeated experience that needs to happen on a regular basis. This view of the birthing process is more of a progressive thing, a building on previous decisions to embrace truths about God, not a repeating of previous decisions over and over.

It is very normal for a person to encounter truth about God and accept it in one area of their thinking but still be very steeped in lies about God in many other areas of their thinking and feelings. It is from this perspective that I believe a person needs to be born again and again as they are confronted with more and more lies in their heart and mind about the truth of God and about reality. As each new revelation of truth about God is encountered, they again have to make sometimes painful or difficult choices to let go of their previous ideas and feelings and to pass through an experience of death into life in this area of their gut-level belief system. They have to repeatedly die to self and their own opinions each time they meet selfish and sinful perspectives about God. If this kind of new birth is what describes the other side of the same door as dying to self, then Paul might affirm that it must be passed through on a daily basis.

I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. (1 Corinthians 15:31)

While this statement is lifted out of the middle of a dissertation on the resurrection, it still affirms that Paul saw himself dying to his own desires and feelings on a regular basis. In several other places he refers to this issue of dying to self.

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20)

If dying to self, being crucified with Christ is a description of the back side of the door of new birth, then it can be seen that death and new birth need to happen on a regular basis. And while it is not necessary for a person to be initiated repeatedly into the family of God to come to see themselves as an accepted part of that family, I believe we will find times in our lives where our doubts about our security or place in that family so overshadow us that we may need to reaffirm our choices that initiated our previous new birth experiences over again. This is all part of the settling process whereby our hearts become more and more secure in the rest that God invites us into and where our lives can feel safe to thrive and mature in Christ.