Born From Above

What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit (Jn. 3--Jesus to Nicodemus).

Can we look at our lives and tell what is born of flesh and what is born of spirit?  I think we can, if we will only look carefully.  If we cannot tell for ourselves, there is always Galatians 5:22 to help us focus: 

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.  I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.



But the fruit of the spirit is love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Just because we "obey the law and follow the rules," it does not mean that we are born of the spirit.  We can for the most part, if we are strong, obey the letter of the law without having the fruits of the spirit within us.  Those who do obey the law for fear of God rather than seeking the respect of men are on the path to righteousness; they are "trying" to do the right thing -- and they are obedient unto God (like Nicodemus, I presume, who came to inquire of Jesus.)  And that obedience will lead them to the new birth that Jesus told Nicodemus about.  Jesus said, "Everyone who loves the Father loves the Son"  --and the Son is the author of the new birth.

My point is this:  we cannot, by our own efforts, give ourselves love, peace, patience, etc.  We can "practice" self-control by the hardest, but that is not the same thing as the fruit of the Spirit rising within us to clothe us from on high with self-control.  I remember doing everything in my own power to "give myself" peace before being baptized in the Holy Spirit.  I tried yoga, transcendental meditation, Unitarianism, positive thinking ---- all of which went out the windom in times of exteme stress.  I was never a "strong character;" I always seemed to need help from above.

Those of us who are weak know why it was the sinners who first responded to Jesus; they had no strength of their own on which they could depend.  They were the first to experience the "new birth" because they had no trust in "the flesh."  Those who are well-groomed, well-fed, well-strengthed, well-educated, of strong character can walk awhile in their own "goodness."  The alcoholic, the drug-addict, the lustful, the poor, the outcast, the prostitute, the weak -- all know they need what AA calls "a Higher Power," which is stronger than they are, which can carry them through their own weakness to victory over the flesh.

I would say that those who are "born from above" all have one thing in common:  Ps. 138:3 --

On the day I called, you answered me;

you increased the strength of my soul.

The English word translated "soul" is the same as the Greek "psyche" -- referring to the mind and the emotions, the two parts of ourselves over which we seem to have the least control.  We can "obey the law" but we cannot give ourselves peace in the inner man.  Only the Spirit that descends from above can do that.  Those who cling to the Lord with their whole hearts, their whole minds, and their whole strength may not even appear to be keeping the law at first.  Jesus said He came to fulfill the law, but sometimes -- most times-- it takes days, months, years for Him to work out in us the years of abuse, weakness, fear, anxiety, etc., to the point that we are "walking in the truth." 

In the meantime, though, He continues to give us peace and joy despite our failings to be perfect.  He gradually works into our hearts and minds His own peace, His own patience, His own kindness and goodness -- as a woman works yeast into the whole batch of dough.  I once met a street-walker, a young girl, that I bonded with.  As we parted company, she impulsively took off a beautiful bracelet she was wearing and insisted that I take it as a gift.  This girl was wearing a dog-collar with spikes facing outward; she was tatooed all over her body; she was wearing spiked hair and heels longer than her skirt -- but I think she might have been closer to the kingdom of God than some of us who are in church every Sunday.  Because of what she suffered from within and from without, she no longer depended on her own strength, and she obviously had the spirit of love, generosity, and kindness living within her.  Whenever I see that bracelet, I think of her with love.

Does not God see us the same way?