I’m glad you want to start your life over with God.
I don’t know what your circumstance is.
Maybe you had a painful setback in life, maybe it was unfair and sour.
Maybe at some point, you got tired of the same thing.
You got tired of what doesn’t make sense or have meaning.
You realized all the mistakes made and injuries caused.
If you’re here, wondering how to start over.
But this time in the right way.
What you’re doing is only done by brave people.
While others gave up and decided to stay there, you are up in the fight.
Today I would like to share with you the story of a brave man like you.
A man who admitted he was wrong and decided to start over in life the right way.
Join me to read:
Now while {Jesus} was in Jerusalem (…), many people saw (…) believed in his name.
(…) Jesus (…) knew all people.
He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.
Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.
He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.
For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
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.
| John 2: 23-25 ; 3: 1-5
Enigmatic story, isn’t it?
Nicodemus was an important man in the society of his time.
He was a very prominent leader on political and religious issues.
Recognized, respected, wealthy.
He had worked hard all his life to get the position he now enjoyed.
But he was a man who kept a secret.
A secret that only Jesus and he knew.
Because only Jesus knows the inner human being.
A man who was perhaps tired of the life he led.
A life in which on the outside everyone saw him being fine, but nobody imagined what was going on inside.
Most likely, Nicodemus lived his life trying to follow a series of moral rules to save appearances instead of loving God.
While all his friends and acquaintances hated Jesus and wanted to kill him, Nicodemus decided to do something revolutionary.
With shame, one night in complete darkness, so that no one would see him, hidden he goes to look for Jesus.
He opens his mouth, pretending to break the ice, tells the Lord that although he was not able to recognize him before others, he believed in Him.
Jesus ignores Nicodemus’ introduction and goes straight to the need of his heart.
That which led him to dare to challenge the status quo, to turn his back on his friends who hated Jesus and go to him.
Nicodemus, perhaps like some of us, wanted to start from scratch.
He wanted to start over.
But he didn’t know how to do it.
He didn’t know what to do.
He already had lived many years, he had many titles, he was recognized for being the person he already was.
He thought about what people were going to say about him if they saw that he started living in a different way.
Worse, what were they going to do and how were they going to treat him if they started to see that he followed Jesus.
Maybe he thought he was too important and influential to change.
He was certain that his friends were going to reject him, that people were going to make fun of him.
But still, his desire to change and satiate his heart was much stronger than his fears.
Believe me when I tell you that it is no coincidence if we feel identified with the story of this man.
God allowed us to know of this story through his word because this story is in it for us.
Faced with such a need of this man, the Lord in his love saves him the pain of revealing himself through words before him, and answers something enigmatic but deep and beautiful:
(…) I assure you that whoever is not born again cannot see the kingdom of God.
I can already imagine the puzzling face of Nicodemus.
His surprise was such that his lips could not contain the looming question:
How can one be born again when one is already old? (…).
Can one enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born again?
Nicodemus knew what Jesus meant when these words were spoken.
I know you may be asking yourself the same question that Nicodemus asked.
And to be frank, if you continue reading, the Lord does not give him an answer.
On the contrary, he confronts him with the reality that he considered himself a teacher without knowing what was really important to know.
Let’s be frank, we like Nicodemus may have also lived life believing we know how life works and thinking we don’t need Jesus to decipher it.
But the reality is that what Nicodemus knew was not enough to secure him the kingdom of heaven.
Perhaps later, in another writing, we will delve into this topic.
For the time being, I will concentrate on explaining what I think Jesus meant to say to Nicodemus when he said, “You must be born again.”
This is one of those answers that start with a question.
Let me ask you: How much information did you have in your brain when you were born?
I once heard a parent tell a friend, when talking about the education of children.
“Kids are like a blank cassette.”
The outcome of their knowledge and behaviors depends entirely on what the parents put on that cassette.
Now, there will be those who refute this, but in general terms, it is a generally accepted concept.
Well, that is a precious truth that I believe the Holy Spirit once communicated to me when I meditated on this text.
That all our lives, from our early childhood, our minds are being programmed by the system of a world in decay to walk away from the source of life.
To walk away from Jesus, away from the light.
To walk in darkness, in error, and in pain.
The music full of eroticism that we hear destroys marriages before they are formed.
The violence on TV and in movies deforms our character.
Alcohol and drugs that brutalize and destroy the brain and the will.
The desire to satisfy the being with empty successes, money and with temporary pleasures.
The advertising that makes women a commodity.
The economic and social system that conditions us to be selfish.
And so many other things.
Of course, we need to unlearn when we decide to be born again and start our life with Jesus.
The reality is that our mind is full of information.
Information that has deformed the image of God in our being.
Information that does not help us, nor does it build us on this new path we are beginning.
Information that has been directing our actions and decisions along harmful paths for our spiritual and emotional development and growth.
It is necessary to unlearn the wrong concepts about how interpersonal relationships work.
To learn what is correct in the eyes of morality, ethics; how to lead the family.
To better choose the entertainment that builds us up as human beings, etc.
Among so many other things.
It is also necessary to stop feeding our minds with information that does not edify us in this new beginning.
Intolerant and corrupt attitudes and behaviors need to be set aside.
We need to unlearn.
Nicodemus was an old man, whose mind was full of preconceptions that prevented him from fully accepting Jesus into his life and seeing the transformation he longed for.
What Jesus tells him is that he needs to empty himself and fill himself with Christ.
He tells him that he needs to begin to walk with Jesus and to emulate his character.
That he must not continue to live according to what his society proposed, but the way of life and the character that Jesus teaches.
But you’ll say, it’s too hard a task.
And it is.
It’s contrary to everything we’ve ever been told.
I know.
But it’s the truth.
And the truth makes us free.
The reason God asks you to start unlearning so many things when you’re going to start over is that he loves you, and he knows what’s best for you.
For a long time, someone usurped in your life the place that corresponds to your true father.
That usurper has not loved you, he has only wanted to destroy and hurt you.
For this, he has put in your mind and your heart wrong things in every possible way, from every possible direction.
But now you have reached your true father, the one who loves you so much that he gave himself up for you so that you can have eternal life and hope.
What a wonderful opportunity to learn from a father who truly loves us and wants the best for us.
The reality is that you will never be alone.
It is a task that falls to a very special being.
When Nicodemus asks Jesus the question we review back, he answers:
whoever is not born of the water and the Spirit cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Jesus tells him that to achieve the task of being born again, it is necessary to be born of the water and the spirit.
This means that Nicodemus needs to accept Jesus in his heart and publicly recognize him.
No more in secret, or at night when no one knows.
Jesus wants you to truly commit to him this time, no matter what others say or think.
No matter what may happen because your trust is placed in God, and God will guide you on the best path.
One day you may recognize Jesus through baptism.
And through baptism, you may receive the Spirit of God in your life and in your heart.
I know, maybe this is new to you.
Maybe it’s not easy to digest.
But it’s the most beautiful thing you’ll ever experience.
To be filled with the spirit of God, to walk by the spirit and not by the flesh.
How much I would like to express it in words, but it is somewhat inexplicable.
Something that words and language cannot express.
Something I invite you to experience for yourself.
Something that will change your life forever.
You will live a journey of unlearning but of incredible learnings and best of all from the hand of God Himself.
From the hand of a father who loves you and who will only give you the best for all eternity.
What was that experience like for you to be born again, or what is your current experience of it? Share it with all of us in a comment at the bottom to grow together.
