Do we believe?

John 3:1 – 36

I could have equally titled this, “Do you know what you believe?” Everyone who has ever been to a sporting event has seen and knows about “John 3:16”. There is generally someone holding a sign with that scripture, to be honest we can’t really live John 3:16 if we don’t practice and live John 3:17 as well.

Nicodemus had studied scripture most of his life. In John 2 there is mention of those who believed because of the signs, Nicodemus was probably one of those. He wanted to know what these signs meant. He wasn’t sure what to believe. When we have been people of faith for a while, we tend to develop belief systems. The challenge is not stay there. The closer I come to the Lord, the more I learn about Him changes me and at times what I believe. I learned about how deep His grace is for us. I had been at one time performance based in my beliefs, then the Lord taught me, and I got it, that His love for me is not based on what I do but on who I am. Nicodemus was open to being challenged by God; he wanted to be all that God had called him to be. I have to challenge myself everyday to be open to the Lord revealing new things that I need to understand about who He is, His love for me and for others.

John 3:17 states, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” It is easy for us to talk about God’s love for the world, but for us to overcome an air of judgment is not as easy. All of us have certain sins that we deem worse than others. We all have people that “rub us the wrong way” and we look down on them or with an attitude of disgust. We may not say it openly but our flesh is naturally prideful and self-promoting. Sometimes it is neither of those toward others, but we spend our time condemning ourselves.

John asks the question in his first letter, “How can we love God whom we haven’t seen when we don’t love our brother whom we have seen?” Our job is neither to condemn nor live under condemnation. It is our job to bring the love of God to people in a way that they can understand it. It is the Holy Spirit’s job to bring conviction to people and draw them to the Father. Ours is to be “Jesus” to the world. The only people Jesus ever openly condemned where the religious, the sinners He forgave and showed the way to freedom. Do we sometimes have that backward? We have mercy on the hypocrites and condemn those who most need to know they can be forgiven and free.

Can I challenge you today to ask the Lord two things; First, is there anyone in my life that I am condemning? Second, am I heaping condemnation on myself? Condemnation pushes people away from God; conviction draws them to Him and His grace. Rely on His grace today, for yourself and for others. Ask the Lord to show you how to be Jesus to others, to believe and live the way that He did. We don’t excuse sin, but as real believers in Jesus we must do what He did. He did not come to condemn but to bring life and freedom. If we simply believe and live Jesus’ way, we open the door for the Holy Spirit to bring the conviction and love that will lead them to the Father. What do you believe? Do we need to condemn or do we need to bring Jesus? I would rather have and bring Jesus!