February 20 - Decrease

Read: John 3:22-36

He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:30 ESV)

John the Baptizer had already explained numerous times over that he was not the messiah. He had been baptizing people in droves when someone pointed out to him that Jesus had also begun to baptize people nearby. John was not jealous. He was ecstatic. The final fruit of his ministry was drawing near. Jesus was taking the forefront even as John was diminishing. Jesus was increasing in fame, following, and favor as John was decreasing.

John had the right of it. Even aside from his part in God's redemption story for mankind he knew that in order for his life to achieve its full potential he must decrease as Christ increased. The same thing is true for us today.

If you and I are to find fullness in Christ we must relinquish control of our lives. We must take the humbly reverent approach that looks first to Jesus for answers. This brings a unique sense of joy to life as we learn to lean on God. Over time we replace our selfish wants with selfless wants. We reject arrogance for humility, and insecurity for steadfastness. We decrease. Jesus increases.

February 19 - Save the World

Read: John 3:16-21

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. (John 3:17 ESV)

Most of us have seen them, read them, or played them. So many works of fiction revolve around the idea of saving, either our world or one imagined, from some cataclysmic force. There is something somewhere inside us that deeply connects with the idea of this world needing to be saved.

In truth, that is exactly what Jesus came to do. Humankind had derailed this creation from the perfection of God's course for the world. Jesus came to fix it. By our inherited sense of wickedness we had fallen out of right standing with our Heavenly Father and joined a rebellion. The sentence was death as a wage for our sin, but God enacted another plan. A plan set in motion before its necessity ever became a reality.

Jesus stepped out of the eternal into finite history as a man. The Light, Word, and Son of God made flesh. While he had every right, and all authority, to pronounce incredible judgement upon humanity, he instead worked, lived, and was persecuted under amazing grace. He who knew no sin, took our sin. He who knew no death, took our death. He returned to us forgiveness, mercy, and life. In short, Jesus saved the world.

February 18 - Rebirth

Read: John 3:1-15

Do not marvel that I said to you, "You must be born again." (John 3:7 ESV)

Nicodemus, himself a religious leader of the Jews, came in secret to Jesus to confess his acknowledgement of Jesus as a messenger and teacher sent from God. He didn't acknowledge Jesus as the Christ, only as a miracle worker who clearly had the blessing of God upon his ministry. Jesus responded with a teaching that has become a permanent part of traditional Christian vernacular. He told the Pharisee that he could not be part of God's kingdom unless he was "born again."

This was a new idea to Nicodemus and he confused Christ's meaning with one of earthy implications. Jesus' frustration with Nicodemus' lack of understanding was apparent. How could someone who professed to be a follower of God and a teacher of the Law so easily confuse or misunderstand the path to God?

I don't know what you're background is. I don't know your religious history. All I know is that like the Pharisee did we need to humbly approach Jesus and seek answers. In terms of rebirth we need to submit ourselves to the kind of spiritual rebirth that can only be experienced through the supernatural miracle of salvation. We all must be born again.