Don’t you love it when you put on a jacket that’s been sitting in the closet for a while and find something wonderful in the pocket like a twenty dollar bill or an item you’ve been looking for, for months? An unexpected treasure found in something so familiar.
It felt like that’s what happened this morning when I, for the umpteenth time, began reading John all over again. A treasure found in a little pocket of this oh so familiar passage.
“In Him was life…” I’ve read that more times than I could possibly count, but it hit me differently this morning.
The whole reason He came. To bring LIFE to a dying world.
At the beginning of time, God created man from nothing and breathed LIFE directly into his nostrils. Genesis 2:7 – And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. Man wasn’t conceived in the normal way. He came straight from the mind and hand of God. LIFE began in the perfect world.
But that world quickly went from LIFE to death with the entry of sin. A black mold on the soul of mankind. Toxic. Fatal. Man was dying and didn’t even know it.
And so, once again, God would breathe life into mankind through His Son. “In Him was life…” John 10:10 – “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
God would send Jesus. LIFE wrapped up in a baby’s immaculate conception. Perfect LIFE invading an imperfect world.
The vast majority of people didn’t get it. The vast majority still don’t get it. As John puts it, the world didn’t “recognize” or “receive” Him. They didn’t “understand”. I wish I could say that’s no longer true…
LIFE was right there in front of them. LIFE IS right here in front of us. God-breathed. Available.
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” John 1:12-13.
There were, there ARE those who received and believed. Who saw, who see LIFE for what it is.
And THESE are the people who become the children of God. “children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, BUT BORN OF GOD.” Here we have it again, just like at the beginning of time, just like when Jesus came to earth, a new LIFE being formed not through human endeavor or act, but an act of God Himself!!!!! His breath of LIFE breathed into our spiritual nostrils. Taking us out of death. Bringing us back to life in the most profound and eternal way. It is mind-boggling and nothing short of miraculous! HIS BREATH GIVING IS BREATHTAKING!!!!
I’ll stop here. This treasure is enough for me to ponder and savor all day long…and for the rest of my LIFE…:-)
