Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Reborn. Reconstituted. Regenerated. Renewed. These are terms that are indicative of something old that has been transformed. Jesus understood the fundamental challenge with the heart of man — it is CORRUPT AT THE CORE. Sin has corrupted it. Each of us, by sinning, had/have given over our lives to sin. Sin had/has become our master. If something is corrupted or rotten, it is not easily fixed. It takes significant effort to rid it of its rottenness and rebuild it to where it can thrive. So Jesus tells Nicodemus that in order to see the kingdom of God you must be “born again”. Nicodemus responds with a simple question: “How do I re-enter my Mother’s womb and be born again?” What I think his question sheds light on is this: he thinks that he was born and may have just stumbled along the way. So if he is reborn in the same way, he can “try harder” next time. Does he think the power to live for God can come out of a corrupted heart? (This is what the Pharisees (the group he belonged to) believed). This question is similar to the one people ask today, just in a different way. “I’m a good person, I just make mistakes sometimes”, “I do more good than bad”, or “I think I deserve another chance to meet God’s expectations” — these are all thoughts many have (and many of us have had). But this logic, this reasoning has a FATAL FLAW — it assumes that we, in our own power, can be perfectly good. We cannot! Or it assumes that God will tolerate sin. He does not and will not — he cannot dwell with sin because he is purely good!

So Jesus paints the picture for him. “Flesh gives birth to flesh” means sinful parents will give birth to sinful children. The modeling and raising up of children into adulthood has played this out every time throughout all of time. We live in a world controlled by the Devil and he is strong and powerful. In response, we all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory! But then he introduces the Good News — “the Spirit gives birth to spirit!” If we want a relationship with an “other-worldly” God, we should expect an “out-of-this-world” path to get there. JESUS IS THIS PATH! And as he describes this, he offers us an illustration — The Wind! It is at once exciting, but also high-risk. The wind can bring relief and good things — for sailing and for cooling us down — but it can also be unpredictable and its use involves risk. The problem is, we are unfamiliar with its origins and don’t know where it will take us! So we must have faith to use the wind. It is the same with being reborn with God’s Spirit. We are charted on a new spiritual course we cannot predict or totally understand. It fundamentally changes us at the core of our hearts. Our life purposes, our mission, our goals and ambitions realign to those of our Father in Heaven. We have the power inside us to truly seek after God in our hearts! We are … Reborn, Reconstituted, Regenerated, Renewed! Oh, what a risky and wonderful process! Thank you Lord for your Spiritual rebirth in me!