"The Weekly Word"

Monday, September 15, 2025 Edition

If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? John 3:12

So, here’s a smart teacher, Nicodemus questioning Jesus. True, Nicodemus knows a lot. He’s intelligent, He’s respected, He’s popular. He’s probably well spoken. Still, he is trying to rationalize how in the world God can truly send this one being, this one person, and that act saves the entire world. It blessed good people, bad people, people who always do right, and the people who just don’t care. Gosh, Nicodemus just cannot believe anyone could possibly have that kind of impact. His mind is whirling trying to process how this could possibly be.

Friends, I love the bible gives us this internal struggle even as the truth of Jesus is spelled out to this great, intelligent, smart teacher. It’s truly a blessing for me to read Nicodemus’s thoughts occasionally as I have my own doubts and fears. It’s so difficult quite often for me to rationalize how in the world Jesus is still living when I see so many being exiled emotionally from families, spiritually from churches, and physically from their homes. I wonder how Jesus is saving people, making them better as so many struggle to find any sense of identity, when continually, the moral compass in the world continues to shift. What’s wrong and what’s right is becoming more and more blurry by the day! Jesus, how are you coming into the world, how are you saving us? Nicodemus’s words continue ringing in my head.

And then I continue to hear the promise recorded by John. Brandon, how can you possibly believe in heavenly things, if you don’t believe I can make things better on earth. Truth be told friends, we as people are conditioned to be doubters. We’re conditioned to think, okay, what’s the catch! What’s the other side of this! If someone does something nice for me, do I just take it at face value and say thanks, or do I wonder, okay, why, what do they want?

And then here’s Jesus saying, there is no other side to believing in him. There’s only peace and blessing and joy and eternal life. Of course, there’s a shadow side to not believing in him, a sense of total isolation and emptiness., However, for us as believers, there should be no doubt Jesus brings light to our deepest darkness and a sense of fulfilment to our greatest emptiness.

So today, if you have doubts, that’s okay. If you have questions, ask them. Jesus wants us to continue to ask and to be searching for him in the world. Kudos to Nicodemus for asking, because if he didn’t his life would never have been changed! Our danger is when we stop asking, then we’re left eternally empty!

So, this week, may you feel doubt just a bit, in order to find the blessing of Jesus. He lives! Do you believe that as you are living no matter what?

To God be the glory

Pastor Brandon