While we read John 3, we see the story of Nicodemus. At that time, Jesus taught about being born again, which caused some confusion of understanding for the Pharisee named Nicodemus. In Jesus' account of the Jewish prince, he continues to mention the main teaching of Christianity, found in John 3:16, which is that God has loved us to the point of sending his only son so that we can have eternal life. . . In this written dear parishioners we will see how this teaching of rebirth implies that we also need to die. Our faith must be moved by the desire to contemplate the face of God and not ask for favor from His hands, as we have often become accustomed.
When we want to talk about God's love to people, many reject it because they think of a personal favor. They would only feel loved by God if they saw the multiplication of the loaves or the opening of the sea. In fact, even if that happened, these people would hardly keep their faith because when they ask to see these signs, they are actually being selfish and thinking about their own benefits. If you see such miracles, you will soon want another and another, but always to meet your needs, so we must bear in mind that faith is not to seek the hands of the Lord, but to contemplate his face, that is, to experience its atmosphere supernatural.
In Exodus 33 of verse 18 to 22 we can read about Moses' attempt to contemplate the face of God. In this passage, it is very clear that no one can see the face of God and live.
We live asking for blessings and miracles, that is, we seek the hands of God. We must seek brokenness, repentance, the conversion of our interior, which is seeking the face of God. We need to renew our minds, that is, to be born again. It is very difficult for one to understand the difference between seeking only the hands of God, that is, his miracles, and looking for his face, that is, his atmosphere. To understand this we must be born again. Let go our selfish thoughts, desire to satisfy our ego, for a thought to seek communion with the Eternal. In the example of Moses, he wanted more intimacy, a deeper relationship with his Lord, so he wanted to contemplate the face of God.
If you base your faith on the circumstances of your life, you will never be satisfied, because nobody has, and will never have, a perfect life without dramas, doubts and tears. When we are born again, we understand that we should praise the Lord despite the difficulties. It is always good to emphasize that we are not saying that we should thank God for the difficulties, but praise him in spite of them, that is, even in difficult times we should keep our hearts righteous and our mind directed to understand the will of God in our lives .
We must die to see the face of God. Speaking spiritually, we must kill our wills and desires that take us away from God so that we can contemplate his face to live an eternal experience. Therefore, when speaking to Nicodemus, Jesus taught that we must be born again to contemplate the Kingdom of God. When we change our mind, we kill the old man, we are opening a space to live the supernatural, a true approach with the Father, who will establish our faith in an eternal and unbreakable rock. We must not trample on our faith in what is transitory. The circumstances change. Now they are good, sometimes they are unfavorable, it does not indicate that God has abandoned us or that we are doing something wrong.
To change our routine, we have to cut some dangerous links. Some television programs, some websites, some social networking sites, some social networking sites. The relationships we have with people must be rethought. The use we make of the media, the books we read, the songs we listen to. Our routine needs to be rethought. This is our chance to really start again. If we want to contemplate the face of God, we must fight for a new life by killing the old man, the old customs and desires.
Perhaps, One of the greatest dangers, that we have difficulties to kill, is our willingness to maintain a social network. Friends, cousins, neighbors, former classmates, friendship with the cousin of the brother-in-law of my aunt's mother-in-law, etc. One of the great desires to be "killed" is to maintain these relationships. It is not that we should be isolated from the world and ignore everything and all Christ did not act that way, but we do not need to go to the barbecues, to football, to watch the game together, to the beach and to other events when asked. Over time, we have learned to balance our social life with our faith. When we decide to be born again, we must select our coexistence as well.
We can read in Revelation 12:10 and 11 where it says that only the Glory of God will contemplate those who are not afraid to love God even in the face of death.
Then I heard a great voice from heaven saying: "Now comes the salvation, the power, the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ, because the accuser of our brothers is expelled, just as he accuses them day and night". before our God. Therefore, they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of the testimony they gave, and even in the face of death they did not love their lives.
In this passage, those who do not pay attention can find something cruel, "not to love one's life in the face of death," but we are learning about an unconditional and selfless love, like Christ, who was not afraid to act to please the Father. before. to please himself, so that when he prayed before the crucifixion, he said: "Take this cup from me, but your will be done." In this prayer, we learn to love the Lord and his will, prevailing over ours. Perhaps this is the great secret to be born again, to allow the will of the Lord to overlap with ours.
