John 3:1
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council.
In John chapter 3, God revealed His desire, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." In verse 1, Nicodemis came before Jesus. First of all, he was a member of the Jewish ruling council. That is to say he was a politician, but he understood that social reforms and welfares could not bring solutions to human problems. Secondly, Nicodemis was an Israelite Pharisees which also means he was an educator. It is common belief that education could bring about the change of human nature. If , indeed, education could change human nature, there would not have been so much social problems. In reality, it is just the contrary. Criminals who are not so wise may get caught immediately, while the wise criminals leave little tracks of their crime as they are able to come up with more sophisticated and novel schemes of their criminal acts. In fact, I do not mean education is not important, except that education alone is not sufficient to solve these problems.
One may rebuttal, " You are a preacher, of course you would say religion is the only solution to human problems." In reality, the gospel represented by Christianity is not limited to a set of religious teachings especially when man, knowing his own problems, is unable to do anything about them. If, indeed, religious teachings can bring forth repentance and strength, Nicodemis would not have to look for Jesus. It was because Nicodemis was a Pharisees, the most zealous religious leader, he strictly followed the law, and was filled with compassion, but , ironically, all of these could not help to solve the problems in his heart. As Chinese, we tend to look at religion as a way of making up for our sins with good deeds. But since we all know that it is our nature and responsibility to do good, how can we use this as an excuse to make up for our short comings? Even if this is possible, how many good deeds would it required to make up for these short comings? This is like a piece of wood with many nail holes, no matter how hard you try to fill up these holes, this piece of wood can never become perfect again.
When Jesus Christ came to this world, it was not His purpose to repair our lives. In fact, He came to renew our lives in totality. This was exactly why Nicodemis was seeking out for Jesus, Jesus, therefore, replied, "You need to be born again" In the same token, you need to be given a new life from God. It is only through these new lives, we can be delivered from sins. Brothers and sisters, are you in need of this new life? If you already have this new life, you should live out this life fully. If you do not, you can ask Jesus Christ to come into you, and grant this new life to you!
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