Do you own a bicycle? If you have had a bicycle, you know that it needs repairing quite often. I used to own one, and I guess it wasn’t a very good one, for I know I had to take it apart and fix it a good many times.
Mr. Alford had a bicycle which he used to ride to work — when it was working! But so very often there was something wrong with it that he used to go by bus as often as by his bicycle. His friends used to watch for him, and laugh when they saw him coming, for they never knew whether he would have his poor old bicycle, ‘or come on the bus.
At last one of them said, with a bit of a twinkle in his eye, “What you need is a new bicycle!”
I am sure Mr. Alford knew this too, but a new bicycle costs a lot of money, and so he tried to keep his old one running the best he could. If someone had offered him a new one, I’m sure he would gladly have accepted it.
The Bible tells me that I need something new too. It tells me I need a new life. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:33Jesus 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). But how many of us try to make our poor old nature do the best it can. We try to put off this and that bad habit and we try to do what we think would please God, but I am sure we fail more often than we succeed, don’t we? Now, God is not asking us to do this at all. He tells us we are sinners, and that even our best is like “filthy rags” in His sight. He also tells us that we have no strength at all — we need to be “born again.” Does that sound strange? The wise man to whom the Lord said it, thought it was strange too; in fact he just couldn’t understand it at all.
But the Lord Jesus Christ died on the crops in order that He might offer to you and me that which we could not earn by ourselves. He offers to you and me the forgiveness of all our sins and a new life! Yes, “born again” by accepting the Lord Jesus Christ! He has saved me and given me a new and clean heart, and He will do the same for you. Will you come to Him now? “Ye must be born again.” John 3:77Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (John 3:7)
ML 07/01/1956