Stress Test Devotional May 4
May 04, 2024
John 3:16 | For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
The spiritual life is recast in John 3, as Jesus encounters Nicodemus. No longer is it about what we offer God, but about what he offers us in Christ, and how we respond. It is our belief and trust in what he has done, our willingness to receive the new life he offers, that is the key to our living, our dying, and our life to come.
When we try to manufacture our own spiritual lives, whether through rigid obedience like the Pharisees, or through mystical experiences of nature, or through noble achievements and service, we miss the point and power of the true spiritual life completely. We cannot set our own terms and conditions for it. We cannot design and evaluate it ourselves. It is an art, a reality, a truth, a power, that originates and depends on God alone.
What kinds of spiritual lives do you see being lived around you?
