There was one of the Pharisees called Nicodemus, a leading Jew who came to Jesus by night and said, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who comes from God; for no one could perform the signs that you do unless God were with him."  Jesus answered, "I tell you most solemnly, unless a man is born again he cannot enter the Kingdom of God."  Nicodemus said, "How can a man be born again?  Can he go back into his mothers womb?"  Jesus replied, "Unless a man is born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God."

What Jesus was saying is that unless a man's heart is changed from an earthly desire to a spiritual desire he will not be born again.  This is a very hard thing to hear, but it is the one truth that we must accept to enter God's Kingdom.  It is in fact the keys to the kingdom.  It also goes against our very nature to put anything above our own selfish desires.  I believe that the test of this is in the two commandments Jesus gave us.  Do we love the Lord God with all of our heart and soul?  Do we love our neighbor as ourself?  It is when the full force of all of our effort in this life is to love and serve that our hearts have truly changed.  That is not to say that we accomplish it perfectly.  We don't and we never will.  Look at the twelve men Jesus chose to follow him.  Their hearts were defintly changed to give up their lives and desires and follow Jesus and yet they all failed from time to time.

It's easy to regard people of biblical times as ancient people of foreign races that we don't have anything in common with.  This is a misconception.  People are the same regardless of race or geographic region or time in history.  Nicodemus was very much like many of us.  He was a leader in the religious community.  He was successful.  He was respected.  He also knew that to stay in good social standing he could not be seen socializing with people like Jesus, an outspoken radical who dared to criticize the leaders of that day.  Yet he was drawn to Jesus because he knew that Jesus had God's special favor.  He knew He had more knowledge and wisdom than anyone he had ever known.  Look closely at Nicodemus' words.  "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who comes from God, for no one could perform the signs that you do unless God were with him" ... "What must a man do to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?" ... "How can a man be born again?"  Nicodemus knew that Jesus was special and yet he crept through the night so that no one would see him talking to Jesus.  Is this not the way that many of us approach our faith?  We don't want people to see us as radical or overboard on religion.  We are more concerned about what other people think than what God thinks.  This is the struggle for spiritual birth.

Most of us struggle with being born again just like a baby struggles in his mother's womb to be born.  Once we have been born again, it takes years to mature.  I think of my own experience:  In the early 1980s I was a junior in college and life was all about me.  I had been raised by two parents who believed in Christ and raised thier children with definite Christian values.  However, when I went away to college I wanted to enjoy myself and get a good education so that I could go out in the world and get rich.  I did not think much about God or how I could serve Him.  My roommate, Brian, was pretty much like me and we were good friends, but he had a brother who was very active in the group Campus Crusade for Christ.  I am not sure why, but he arranged one night to send a couple of his friends to see me while Brian was out.  They asked me if I was a Christian and if I had been saved.  They were sure that I had not.  To say the least, I was offended.  I said of course I was.  I had been a Christian all of my life.  They explained to me that knowing who Christ was and being a Christian was like marriage.  You could know a girl all of your life.  You could love her but she does not become your wife until you marry.  In other words, not until you make a commitment to her.  That spoke volumes to me, because I was not commited to Christ at all.  They dismissed themselves with a simple prayer.  I am sure they felt I was not moved by their prayers or witness.  They will never know how my heart changed that night.  I realized that I was not commited to Christ and that I had never prayed a simple prayer accepting Jesus as my Lord and Savior.  I had not made a decision to turn my will and my life over to the care of God.  That night I commited my life to Christ and accepted him as my savior.

My life did not change in a dramatic way, but I did begin to read the New Testament and later the entire Bible.  A year later I began seeking out churches and occasionally attending services.  Although, I have fought all kinds of demons, and stumbled miserably over time, my life, and more importantly, my heart, has completely changed.  I have grown up in Christ.

It is the same for everyone.  Once we accept Jesus as our savior and put that decision into motion, we begin to grow spiritually.  In the beginning some people are enthusiatic, others are more reserved.  This is not much different than the experiences of the first Christians.  Like them, we all grow and mature and over time.  We become the Christians who will lay down our lives for God instead of the Christians who ran away at the cross.

If you have not accepted Jesus as your savior, I invite you to simply pray, "Lord Jesus, I accept you as my Lord and Savior.  I repent of my sins.  I make you the Lord of my life."  It is then that you, too, will have the keys to the kingdom.