Luther on Trials

John 3:7
Don't be surprised when I tell you that all of you must be born from above.

Martin Luther wrote, "this new birth shows itself most clearly when trials and death draw near. Then it becomes clear whether or not a person has experienced a new birth. At such times, human reason, that old light, twists and wrestles and refuses to let go of its own thinking. It never wants to give up and turn to the gospel. Reason simply cannot let go of its own light. But those who are born in new, those who were born from above, or those who are in the process of surrendering and following god, give up their old light, their life possessions, honor and whatever else they have. They trust what John records in his gospel and cling to it. As true children of God, they receive their eternal inheritance."

We don't often think about the problems of life as ways in which we are challenged to live out our deepest convictions. Usually we just face them as they come, do the best we can, toss out a solution if we're able, and then move on and try to forget our failures and celebrate our successes. But when God views the world he sees it with a broader, deeper complexity. He sees the interconnectedness of it all, how none of us lives in a vacuum, how our decisions both good and bad influence those around us, how they even affect the creation that he has given us as a gift to tend. And because we are unable, or as Luther said unwilling, to let go of 'reason', to let go of our cocksure self-centeredness, and see the world the way that God sees it, as a beautiful, hand created thing that he loves and invests Himself in, we don't see the forest for the trees. So this text from John 3, which talks about the presence and the power of the spirit, instructs us that our origin is not from some story we have heard from others, or concocted ourselves. Our origin comes from a story that God, Himself has told, from an effort God, Himself has made, toward an end that God, Himself ordains. Because God is at the beginning, the middle and the end of every story, we cannot escape the truth that everything we do, everything we are, everything we hope to be, is revealed by the will of that God, blessed by the presence of that God, and empowered by the love of that God..