Submission

Re:Verse passage – John 3:1-9  (day four)

To be born again means to submit yourself to something new. When we are born in the first instance, we’re submitted to the flesh. Our natural tendency is to serve our fleshly desires, both the good and the bad. Though a life devoted to fulfilling your own desires at first sounds like freedom, it quickly shows itself to be a form of slavery. To submit to the flesh is to become a slave to the flesh. The initial fun of fulfilled cravings quickly gives way to an endless pursuit of chasing satisfaction that is always out of reach.

Nicodemus learns here that life in Christ requires submission to something else. When we’re born again by the Spirit, we are now to live in submission to that Spirit instead of the flesh. This is a completely different experience. We’re still “slaves” to something, but Romans 6 tells us that those who are in Christ are now “slaves to righteousness” and “slaves of God.” When we submit ourselves to the Spirit, we inherit God’s holiness and eternal life. A life of submission to the Spirit means a life of unique joy, hope, and peace that can’t be found anywhere else.

Following Jesus costs us something. It costs us our entire life. But it replaces our old life that was headed for death with a new life that is headed for eternity.