Evening: Psalm 49; John 2:23-3:15
Zealous
believers ask: “Are you born again?” They wrongly assume that we can
evaluate our own spiritual transformation. Jesus taught that, to see
truth and life in all its untold wonder, we do indeed need spiritual
rebirth. This gift is apparently available for the asking. Trouble is,
if you don’t have it, you probably don’t know it! If you do,
thankfully you’ll be reluctant to say so. But you can ask the Spirit
for this inner transformation, and be grateful when faith takes hold,
hope dawns, and love offers itself to your imagination in exciting new
ways.
I am reminded of this YouTube video where Orthodox Metropolitan (and former Anglican) Kallistos Ware describes having been asked by someone on a train, "Are you saved"?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjHGtCHyBrU
The audience laughs, embarrassedly, but it soon becomes apparent that Kallistos Ware takes the question quite seriously. He teases by saying that he will tell us what his answer was, but not just yet. If you don't have the 10 minutes to watch the video to completion, his answer in summary is "I trust that by God's grace, I am being saved".