5 Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, "You must be born from above.' 8 The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:5-8)
Surrender can be a scary thing. When I first learned how to surf, I needed to learn to surrender to the ocean wave. If I didn’t surrender to the wave, if I didn’t let the ocean’s power carry me, I would end up underneath it. And in the beginning, I ended up underneath a lot of waves. I don’t know how many waves I was buried by, but I remember the first time I stood up and rode a wave. When I caught that wave, when I surrendered to it—it was amazing! It was scary because I knew how much I wasn’t in control, but it was an awesome experience.
We don’t know how God works. Through the prophet Isaiah, God says: “8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isa 55:8-9) and in John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “The wind blows where it chooses…you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.” In Scripture the words “wind” and “breath” are often used to talk about God’s Spirit. When Jesus says, “born of water and Spirit” he says born into, trusting wholly in, the Spirit of God, who, when we surrender, takes us to places we might never imagine.
We don’t know how God works. Through the prophet Isaiah, God says: “8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isa 55:8-9) and in John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “The wind blows where it chooses…you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.” In Scripture the words “wind” and “breath” are often used to talk about God’s Spirit. When Jesus says, “born of water and Spirit” he says born into, trusting wholly in, the Spirit of God, who, when we surrender, takes us to places we might never imagine.
And this is where the surfing metaphor may be somewhat incomplete because it’s not that we get buried by God for fighting against the movement of the Spirit, but when we surrender and allow God’s Spirit take us to new and unexpected places it is truly exhilarating. And I have met my share of people who, when they talk about a life of moving by the Spirit, get the same distant look in their eyes that the soul surfers would when talking about waves.
It’s the soul surfers who moved me to learn to surf--and I miss it, because I haven’t ridden the waves in years and years. I hope you meet a Spirit surfer who inspires you to new heights (and depths). I hope you learn to trust God more and more. I hope you find a place this day to surrender again to the “Mysterious Ways” of God’s Spirit as it move you, as it lifts your days and lights up your nights.
No comments:
Post a Comment