Believing
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God." (John 3:16-21)
Nicodemus, a Pharisee and leader among the Jewish people, went to see Jesus under the cover of darkness to try to understand who Jesus really was. But Jesus' answers were likely not as clear or straight forward as Nicodemus would have preferred. We are not given Nicodemus' response to Jesus' closing statements in the above text, but John's gospel places Nicodemus at Jesus' burial along with Joseph of Arimathea, so we can infer that Nicodemus continued to respect Jesus even if he didn't entirely understand him or necessarily believe in him. For his part, Jesus seemed unimpressed with Nicodemus' lack of understanding in earlier verses, and his desire to protect himself from the opinions of others by meeting Jesus in secret, as Jesus casually mentions that those who do evil fear their deeds will be exposed by the light.
For us, having the benefit of a great deal of hindsight, Jesus' words are illuminating, and this brief monologue contains one of our foundational verses - John 3:16. We know Jesus to be the Son that God sent to save the world, and that those who believe in him will have eternal life. However, if we think of belief as merely an activity of the mind - believing Jesus to be the Son that God sent - then we are missing half of the equation. Believing who Jesus is, believing that God chose to create for us a path to freedom from sin, requires that we choose to take that path - allowing God to lead us away from sin and toward righteousness (rightness with God). This active part of belief happens day by day, moment by moment, choice by choice while trusting God to both correct and cover us when we go astray. May we truly believe - continually choosing the path where the Son shines as God's presence guides us to the freedom of fearless life in the Light.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God-- 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. (Ephesians 2:4-10)
