The Challenge

Early in Jesus’ ministry, one of the Jewish leaders came to Jesus secretly, after dark. His primary question was: when would God’s kingdom be established? Like a lot of Jews, he read his Bible, and he saw Messiah as Reigning King … and missed Messiah as Suffering Servant.

So, Jesus told him, unless he was born a second time, he would not see the Kingdom of God. There are two kinds of life. There is physical life. There is spiritual life. The physical can only reproduce the physical. And only the Holy Spirit can give spiritual life.

People are estranged from God, cut off due to sin. Jesus reminded the leader of a time in Israel’s past, where they rebelled against God. And God sent poisonous snakes among them. But Moses made a bronze snake, and hung it on a pole. Anyone, who was bitten, could look to this “snake on a stick” and God would heal them. There was no medicinal value, or healing properties, in the snake. There was only God’s promise that this would work.

So, because of God’s great love for people, he allowed his son to get hung on a pole. Everyone who looks to the Son, like Israel looked to the snake, will be redeemed from God’s punishment. When we accept what Jesus did for us, and choose allegiance to be followers, we are redeemed from God’s judgment, justified, brought into God’s family, and our spiritual DNA is reseeded. We become new, and different. We have moved from the dark to the light.

Because a person’s inner core now agrees with God’s design, he begins to live in a new way. Some people have a radical metamorphosis. (Caterpillar to butterfly.) Some, because of early decisions, and experiences, are profoundly changed, but don’t look so different on the outside. (Moth to butterfly.)  And some, because of early decisions, and experiences, are accepted by Father, Son, and Spirit, but have more difficulty changing lifestyles.

Just, because a person does not look like a butterfly on the outside, does not mean that he\she is not a butterfly. Yes, it is certainly true that they may not be. But, they may be staying in the cocoon longer than others.

I am encouraging all of us to be a little more patient, and kind, with someone, who is more broken from his life experiences, and not expressing Father’s character very well, but whom Father loves just as much as you and I, and who Jesus died for, just as he did for you and I.