My husband, Ron, has a sweet little 6-year-old granddaughter, Aurora, who lives with her daddy, Ron’s son, about 4 hours from us. We don’t get to see Aurora as often as we would like because of the distance. She is shy and, at least for now, won’t get on the phone nor Skype to chat. So when we aren’t with her in person we have to rely on cards and small packages to stay in touch with her. In advance of Valentine’s Day, I bought her a pair of cute hot pink jeans and a little top with sparkly hearts on it, along with a Veggie Tales DVD. We mailed it to her, knowing that the cute little hot pink outfit and DVD will remind a 6-year-old that she is loved by her grandad and me many miles away.
While cards and small gifts will speak love to a 6-year-old child, what will speak love to us, a much-older-than-6-year-old adult? That’s the question that Jesus addresses in John Chapter 3. A very highly-educated, powerful, religious man named Nicodemus came to Jesus to ask about what he had been teaching all around town. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, the highest level of religious leader of that day, the very top of the Jewish religious ladder. He and his peers were tired of being pushed around by the Roman government of that time, and when they heard Jesus teaching about the Kingdom of God, they thought He meanyt an earthly kingdom, where their “top dog” status would get them some important appointments. Well, an earthly kingdom was not what Jesus was referring to. But Nicodemus needed to better understand, so he visited Jesus late one night to ask about this kingdom Jesus was talking about.
Jesus’ answer was about to do “immeasurably more” (Ephesians 3:20) than Nicodemus could imagine. In John 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus that in order to enter the Kingdom of God, he must be born again – meaning born from above – by believing that Jesus was the Son of God, the very Messiah they had been waiting for. That by believing in Jesus as God’s Son, Nicodemus would be saved from his sins and be given eternal life, not for an earthly kingdom that would perish, but for a Heavenly Kingdom that would never perish. Nicodemus listened, heard and believed. How do we know he believed in Jesus as God’s Son? God shows us “the rest of the story” in John 19:38-41 – Nicodemus gently cared for Jesus, very publically, after Jesus’ crucifixion. No longer did Nicodemus visit Jesus late at night, now he cared for Him in a very public setting. Nicodemus was born again.
I pray that someday soon our sweet 6-year-old granddaughter will, like Nicodemus,come to understand how much Jesus loves her and accept Him as her personal Savior so that she can have eternal life in Heaven one day. No amount of cute hot pink outfits will ever substitute for the love of Jesus. I pray you have discovered how much Jesus loves you and that you have made the decision for yourself to accept Jesus as your personal Savior. God loved you so much that He sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to this earth, to live and be crucified for your sins and then to be raised from the dead 3 days later, that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16). You can say “yes” to Jesus today and know real love this Valentine’s Day!
