By Mike Caton

John 3:12, I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?

Jesus has spoken to Nicodemus about being born. Every human on earth has experienced this, we might not remember much about it, but we were all born. And more than likely, we have experienced the birth of someone else; a brother or sister, a cousin, a friend, or someone has had an addition to the family. We night not understand it all, but we know that a new life has come to the earth. We understand a new person has appeared, and oh how exciting that is!

Jesus is speaking about a spiritual birth, it is the very same concept. A new life has appeared on the earth. Again, we might not understand much about how it comes about, but we can see the difference in the person who is reborn. But when this becomes personal, when it is us who needs to be born again, we often want to fight against that. There are countless reasons for this, maybe we don’t want to change, we don’t think we need to change, we are afraid to change, those are just a few. And if it is hard to understand earthly things, how much harder is it for us to understand spiritual, heavenly changes?

But we need to learn to trust Jesus, to believe even when we don’t understand. That is the essence of faith, to trust even we don’t have all the evidence. This is not to say it is simply wishful thinking, that it is hoping against hope. Hebrews 11:1 says, Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. We believe, we trust, we hope in God, because God is big enough and faithful enough to handle the things we can’t. It is not about us, it is about believing in God.

Father, increase my faith. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Mike Caton is the preacher at Mount Olive Church of Christ in Belhaven. He volunteers at the Ponzer Fire Department and works part time with Hyde County EMS. If you would like to receive daily devotions in your inbox, email mikecaton@centurylink.net.

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