Stress Test Devotional April 27
April 27, 2024
JOHN 3:3-6 | Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Much in our new life in Christ is continuous with and connected to our previous lives. God has created us and shaped us through people and events before we make a commitment to accept Jesus’ leadership.
But the life we have in Christ is also new and discontinuous with our previous identity. Without him, without the gift of his new life we are broken mortal creatures headed for death and disintegration. Without his new life we are unable to get beyond ourselves, and remain mired in self-concern, self-doubt, self–promotion, selfish desire, and many other varieties of prideful narcissism.
To receive his spirit, to be born again, is to have a different kind of life invade our own, a different kind of love begin to occupy territory in our hearts. Bios gives way to Zoe, a kind of life that only God possesses and only God bestows.
What does it mean to be “born again”?
How does your new life in Christ challenge your previous life?
