Ever wondered why it’s so difficult for us to behave the way that God wants us to? Seemingly always falling short of His expectations? And did you ever wonder why we see people professing to be Christians but their lifestyle does not reflect a sound relationship with the Lord?
I’ve spent many hours pondering these questions and wondered if perhaps it’s because we aren’t ‘dressed for success’.
The other day, I was caused to think about the situation of a person from the Artic Region who came to visit South Africa. The person unfortunately didn’t do their homework before arriving and had little knowledge of the South African climate. Therefore, trying to enjoy his visit dressed in a huge warm coat, just wasn’t working for him. He could participate in the South African lifestyle, but it was a constant battle because he wasn’t suitably dressed – too bulky – too hot. It ended in a really miserable time.
Similarly, a Triathlete, for example, needs to dress correctly for each discipline of their race – a wet suit for swimming – cycling shorts and cleats for the bike ride and finally running shoes for the run. Without these items of clothing, they will have a very uncomfortable and difficult race, trust me, I know!!
In both these cases, it’s about being dressed correctly – dressed for success!
Many years ago I was shown a scripture in John chapter 3, where Nicodemus approached Jesus to discuss His teachings. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin.
In that meeting Nicodemus says to Jesus the he recognizes the power of God in Him. Jesus replies by saying that if a person wants to SEE the Kingdom of God, they must be ‘Born Again’. There is further discussion and then Jesus says that unless a person is ‘Born of Water and of the Spirit’ he cannot ENTER the Kingdom of God.
Now, what struck me about this scripture was that Jesus speaks of two separate situations:
- He talks about being Born Again to SEE the Kingdom
- And He talks about being Born of Water and of the Spirit to ENTER
You know, it’s possible to ‘see’ a place from a distance but not actually be ‘in it’. For example, we could be flying to OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg and see it from 50kms away, but at that point, we would not physically be in the airport. Just think about that for a bit.
The question I had was: Why would Jesus specifically mention two processes here – ‘seeing and entering’? Why not just say you must be born again to be in the Kingdom?
So I began to ponder – is it possible to be ‘born again’ and not be in the Kingdom of God?
When God touches our hearts – and this can happen at any time in our lives, (usually when we are at our most vulnerable) – we become ‘Born Again’. It’s at this point that we start to be more aware of the things of God. We become more aware of our sinful nature and we become more aware of the devil’s work.
However, according to the scripture, we have now only ‘seen’ the Kingdom – but not actually ‘entered’ it (Jn.3:3).
Jesus said we must be ‘Born of Water and of the Spirit’ to ‘enter’ (Jn.3:5).
So what does it mean to be ‘born of water’? The answer lies in Rom 6 (Rom 6:1-6). Very simply, when God reveals to us that our old sinful nature (not only our sins) died with Jesus on the cross, then we are born of water. Why is this so important? It’s important because if our old sinful nature died with Jesus on the cross, then we no longer have need to follow that nature within us – no longer have need to do things the way we did them before – the old ways are gone! Paul says we are no longer slaves to them!
We can’t enter the Kingdom of God and continue to live out of our old natures – we simply will not be dressed for success! Just like the person from the Arctic Region we mentioned earlier. They really needed to change their coat for something more suited to the sunny climate. Only then would they be comfortable and be able to do what they need to do – dressed for success.
So… are we living in a land with the wrong kind of clothing on? It’s no wonder we seemingly fail to live like God wants us to and why we see others saying they are Christians but living another lifestyle. Let’s ask the Lord daily, to give us revelation of our old sinful nature dying on the cross with Jesus, so we can live out of the new resurrected life of Christ – then, we will be dressed for success!
Thanks for spending your time with me. Be blessed as The Master shares His heart with you this coming week.