Christian Devotional – January 14, 2017

Have you been afraid? What about a situation where you really wanted to know the answer to something, but you were afraid to ask? Maybe others didn’t want you to know. Maybe you weren’t sure you could handle the answer. Either way, it presents a difficult situation. That’s how Nicodemus must have felt. Read his story in John 3:1-21.

He was a high ranking religious official and he had spent years studying the law and living by the rules that were set forth in that. Now there is this person, Jesus, who is teaching something similar, but different. He didn’t understand it and he had questions, but the other religious leaders did not like Jesus, so it would certainly not look good for him to go and ask Jesus questions. Plus, what if he had been working his whole life in vain? What if everything he’d done up to that point had been meaningless? Finally, Nicodemus reached the point where it did not matter about his fears; he needed answers. So he went to Jesus at night.

Jesus met with him. Jesus listened to his questions and Jesus challenged him with another way to take what he had learned and see Jesus as the fulfillment of the law instead of one who would break it apart. Nicodemus was challenged to take greater focus in his life. This was a challenge he would never had received if he had not been able to overcome his fear and go ask the questions.

We can be afraid that God will tell us things we do not want to hear or that He will ask more of us than we are willing to give. But once we face our fears, we find that Jesus loves us and that He only wants what is best for us. Still, until we find the courage to come to Him and to ask Him about His purpose for us, we will never know what wonders he has in store for us. Nicodemus overcame his fear and brought his questions to the only person who could answer them. Will we?