My husband and I like to watch a show on Sunday nights called Amazing Race. On Sundays after he comes home from work, we grill, eat, then settle in for the show. I find it amazing [hence the title] some of the things these people have to do for a chance to win one million dollars.
We often talk about how it would be if we were on the race. I fear heights, enclosed spaces, hot spicy food and can't swim so I could do none of those events. My husband eats spicy foods, fears little and loves adventure. However, he does not do two of my favorite things...run and dance. In this show, the contestants from all over the Unites States open clues that direct them all over the world to complete the required task.
Some of the tasks seem like impossibilities such as riding a donkey around a track when it depends totally on his will to do it. This week the contestants had to memorize a poem in another language. For some, they aced it. For others it was rough. The host kept saying "again" to which one contestant said "Again? How do they expect you to learn a language in ten minutes?" Yet the others did it.
Another pair completed the entire task and seemed to be in first place only to discover they misread the clue and had to go back and do it all over "again."
While on this earth, Jesus said "...no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again." [John 3:3] A Pharisee by the name of Nicodemus asked basically the same question as the contestant. "How...?" "How can someone be born when they are old?
Jesus goes on to tell him that flesh gives birth to flesh but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. We are a society that deals with evidence. We want to see it, hear it, feel it, or else....it didn't happen. Jesus addresses that with Nicodemus when he tells him "I have spoken to you of earthly things and still you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?' [12]
"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so he Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him." [14] There you have it. There is only one way to have eternal life and that is to be "born again." There are no do-overs in life. You don't get a second chance once God calls you home. Your time for a second chance is now.
I once read something that was really impacting. I challenge you to read it and meditate on it.
If you are in Christ, you will "be born twice" but die once;
If you are not in Christ, you will be born once but die twice.
If we are in Christ, we will live that eternal life he offers and when our life on earth ends, new life with him begins.
We are running the amazing race, will your race be filled with excuses or will you come out the winner? Don't miss the clues located in the Word of God. Open it, read it, and complete the race he has line out for you!
From this story comes one of the most recognized verses in all the bible, John 3:16. Amazing!
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16
You can read the story of Nicodemus in the New Testament-John 3
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