Lenten Daily Devotional - Day 4 - 2/16/13

Devotional Scripture:  John 3

Devotional Thought:

"How can this be?" - John 3:9

Just a few weeks ago, my wife and I took a short trip down to Waco.  As I was packing our car, I stepped back and said to myself, "Self, packing the car sure didn't take very long this time!" 

But as I went back into the house, and then for almost the entire trip to Waco, I kept thinking, "did I miss something?  Was there something I forgot to pack?"

Turns out . . . I forgot my C-PAP machine, my toothbrush, my deodorant, and my pillow!!!

"But how can this be?  I'm an expert car packer!"

I did remember to pack all my perscriptions . . . go figure that one out.

In the 3rd chapter of John, we read about Nicodemus.  Nicodemus has come to Jesus at night, and that implies that he did not want to be seen by his fellow Pharisees.  He has come to talk to Jesus. 

Why?

I think he knew that something was missing in his life, or in his faith, and he had come to Jesus in hopes of finding out exactly what it was.   Jesus gives answers to Nicodemus' question, which raise more questions . . . you know how it goes.  Sometimes we know what is missing in our lives . . . but the answers to our questions are not what we want to hear.

Several years ago, Rev. Melburn Sibley wrote about this same scripture . . .

"It is not what we do not know that is most troubling, but what we do know and have not accepted."

What is it that we know?

That "God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16.

On this Lenten journey we are taking . . . let's resolve to give what we already know some serious thought and personal reflection.  The Jesus of Easter longs to be what we are looking for.

God's grace still amazes me . . .  ><>