What We All Really Need
Jesus sees us as we really are, not as we imagine ourselves to be. He knows our weak points. To be “born from above” was an idea that baffled Nicodemus—and it baffles many of us. But this was the simplest way Jesus could explain the basic change that must happen within us before we can possess the joy of knowing God.
Our own inner self must give way to a new inner self that God gives us. We are able to please God because we learn to love the things he loves. Then we appreciate Jesus for he really is—our Saviour from heaven. We must ask God to create us all over again in this way.
A Pharisees named Nicodemus…
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
