Read John 2:23-25 and John 3:1-21!

A  churchy friend at my own age from the neighborhood wanted to know what "to be born again" is all about.  An inquiry like that is very rare, and so I heartedly welcome it of course.

It´s today a rather watered down word, in the U.S. not the least where  "born again" people are publicly mentioned even if they are not.

In this country the national, Lutheran (so called) church teaches it all happens in the infant baptism and so it´s often repeated every Sunday.

And yet my neighbor friend was not satisfied.  He professes to be a Christian seeking refuge in John 3:16 as much as I do, and yet he wanted to quietly sit down with me, and we opened the Bible together.

We dwelt on the "case" of Nicodemus who was pro Jesus indeed.  The story really starts with the Passover in Jerusalem where "many believed in His name", and yet Jesus didn´t entrust Himself to them (He didn´t trust their profession), and that´s what we are very much up against today too.
 
I didn´t rush through it with my friend, but suggested a slow reading for several studies in order for the Holy Spirit to do what it takes to awaken a precious, religious soul. We also read about the rebellious people bitten by serpents (in Num. 21) and how their salvation was just a look to the bronze serpent "on a pole" (v. 9), and how this portrays Calvary.

What a privilege to sit down with an honest inquirer like Nicodemus.  It does my own soul good.  As I just said to Iranian friends, "I´m old now, but every time I share the gospel with someone, I feel very, very young!"

There are two things we need to be saved from, i.e. our religion (and our religious image) and our sin.  The remedy of the gospel saved Nicodemus.   And will save you too.  But remember it´s for sinners only -  lost sinners.

Alas, there are many who say - superficially -, "We are saved!"  I long to hear someone crying out, "I am lost!"

August 19, 2019 - jn