Coffee With Pat
Written By: Pat Aman
copyright 1996 - 2009
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Devotion April 22
What Matters Is That We, Like Nicodemus, Finally Arrive At Jesus Feet.
 
All Scriptures are posted below the Devotion
 

John 3 tells us that Nicodemus first came to Jesus under the cover of darkness, a questioner: "Who are you really? How can a man be born again?" Jesus answered his questions, and raised more.  But John does not say that Nicodemus believed.

Perhaps he mulled the questions and answers over, for John  7 tells us he defended Jesus when other Pharisees accused him: "Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?" But John still does not say he believed.

Then, unexpected, John 19 shows Nicodemus performing an act of great faith.  When Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus' body down from the cross, Nicodemus came with expensive spices and helped anoint the body for burial. According to Hebrew law this made him unclean, he could not celebrate Passover. Further, it publicly identified him with Jesus when even the disciples had fled.

I wonder when Nicodemus decided to believe in Jesus --- in a blinding moment, or by a slow process of growth?

John's way of telling the story of Nicodemus shows me that when we first believe is not what really matters. What matters is that we, like Nicodemus, finally arrive at Jesus, to offer our wealth, our reputation and our service.

Father God, thank you for your saving grace.  Now take all of me, for your glory.  In Jesus Name I Pray. Amen and Amen

John 3: 1 - 21

The New Birth

 1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”
10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

 
John 7: 45 - 52
45 Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why have you not brought Him?”
46 The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this Man!”
47 Then the Pharisees answered them, “Are you also deceived? 48 Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”
50 Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?”
52 They answered and said to him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.”
 
John 19: 38 - 42
38 After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took the body of Jesus. 39 And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. 40 Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury. 41 Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby.

Joyfully, In The Master's Service
Blessings, Prayers and Love,
Pastor Pat

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