Category: Uncategorized

  • You Must Be

    A mountain stream superimposed with "You Must Be"

    Yesterday morning, I was blessed to have an MRI. I had been waiting three months and expected a wait of several more when a cancellation occurred. I jumped at the opportunity.

    When you are lying in a small, enclosed metal pipe, with nothing to do but listen for commands through your headset, there is plenty of opportunity to think, or in my case, simply mind wander.

    My thoughts briefly crossed a familiar passage of Scripture, “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3 KJV.

    It’s a verse I remember in the KJV, although I primarily read other translations.

    Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ESV

    Jesus replied, “With all the earnestness I possess I tell you this: Unless you are born again, you can never get into the Kingdom of God. TLB

    Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” NASB

    Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” NIV

    Jesus makes the importance of being born again abundantly clear in the same conversation with Nicodemus. You must be…

    Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again. John 3:7

    Jesus leaves us no wiggle room and no loopholes. “Must” is a powerful little word that implies there are no options or alternatives. Jesus way is the only way. To see the kingdom, we must do it according to His rules.

    If you are a Christian, you have been born again. There is, by Jesus’ definition, no other type of believer.

    Being born again carries a lot of baggage in our culture and is often used in a pejorative way. To be a “born-again Christian” is often used to mean that someone is ignorant, bigoted, and socially unaware.

    Now, I have met some professing Christians who fit that caricature, so I can’t deny they are out there. But it is a label that does not apply to most believers.

    Are you born again? If not, you need a heart change, or you will not enter the kingdom. That’s not my rule; it’s Jesus’ requirement.

    Hallelu Yah (Praise God)

    Be blessed, 

    Kevin

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  • Childlike, not childish, faith.

    a stack of wooden cigar boxes

    Some years ago, my friend John gave me some old  wooden cigar boxes. Neither of us is a smoker, but he had managed to collect quite a few of the little boxes over the years. Like me, he enjoys storing his treasures in small wooden boxes or tins of various types. The treasures can be anything from pencils and pens to nuts and bolts. I have always enjoyed boxes and containers of “stuff.” 

    I have one tin filled with such treasures as pocket knives, a bear claw, some arrowheads, a penknife that belonged to my grandfather, and a couple of inexpensive pocket watches. Still another holds USB memory sticks. I like to think of them as childlike treasures not childish.

    I even have a few of those hollowed-out books that are really boxes sitting on my various bookshelves. They, too, hold “irreplaceable treasures.” Things like fossil shark’s teeth, shiny rocks, a compass that belonged to my grandfather, a letter opener made from a deer antler, and some of his World War II memorabilia. Nothing that would be of any value to anyone else but irreplaceable to me.

    If you have been reading for any length of time, you will know that I also enjoy thrift stores, garage sales, and old-style small-town hardware shops.

    I’ve panned for gold, scoured abandoned farmsteads for collectible “stuff,” and picked more than my share of interesting rocks and minerals in my travels. 

    I have never found anything that could be considered a great treasure or have substantial monetary value. It is the hunt for the unusual that I enjoy. I suppose that’s my childlike sense of wonder coming out. Some might say childish, but I prefer childlike. 

    Believers are called to be childlike. 

    “…calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:2-4

    Like children, only in the sense that we learn to trust our Father, as a young child trusts their parents. We are not called to set aside our intellect or reason, but we are called to be humble and trust.  Childlike not childish.

    There is another reason Jesus called us to be little children. Children have little to bring to the table.

    In the days of Jesus, children were amongst the lowest class of citizens. They had no rights, no power, and no wealth. That is hard for us to believe when today, children seem to be a privileged class. We place great value on them. The pendulum has swung to the opposite extreme, from highly marginalized to being worshipped.

    Amongst other things, Jesus was making the point that the gospel was for marginalized people, not just the wealthy or middle class. It is for the sick, the poor, the addicted, the lonely, the undesirables, the unlovable, and in general, those we might feel uncomfortable sitting next to in a church service. 

    Christ had remarkable compassion for the misfits of the day. They had nothing to bring but faith.

    In reality, you and I are misfits as well. We bring nothing but faith, and that is a gift from God. We are broken sinners who offer nothing special to God. It is by His grace that we are saved, not by our merit.

    We have no right to have churches filled with one ethnic group or one social class. That distorts the gospel and sends the message that you don’t belong if you are not like us.

    Churches are not meant to be filled with smug, self-righteous, perfect, homogeneous people. They are designed to be filled with people who know that they are broken and bring nothing. We are to be like the children of Jesus’ day.

    We are saved by the mercy of Christ. I pray He gives us eyes to see others as He sees them and that we make time for the marginalized, the children, the misfits.

    Be blessed

    Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

    Kevin

    Gleanings From The Word – Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life. 

    Childlike faith – not childish

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    All contents, “Gleanings From The Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2025 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin, Gleanings From The Word.

    Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is from the English Standard Version (ESV).

    From Gleanings From The Word (Kevin Corbin, 2001– ), a Scripture-based devotional work.

    # Right Belief Must Become Right Living