Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Well, hey friends, welcome to the weekday podcast. It's Bobby. I'm super grateful you're here. This week we have a five episode series that is just called Start Over. Start Over. I don't know anybody that hasn't had a moment in their life where they wish I could start over. I don't know if you've ever walked into a room and you felt like you had to prove you belong there. Maybe it was a new job, maybe it was a church, maybe it was a room full of people who seem to have it together. Maybe more than you. But here's the thing. A lot of us are quietly running that same performance with God. We think if we can just stack up enough good behavior, enough church attendance, enough I'm a decent person that will finally qualified.
[00:00:36] Well, there's a man in the Bible who tried exactly that. His name was Nicodemus. And scripture describes him this way in John 3, says, now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs and that you do unless God is with him. Now, Nicodemus had the best resume in the room. He was a Pharisee, he was a ruler of the Jews. He was a respected teacher. And he opens with a generous compliment about Jesus's credentials.
[00:01:11] Jesus doesn't even say thank you. He goes straight past it and says, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
[00:01:21] Jesus saw straight through the resume to the real question that was underneath the question. And the question that he saw in Nicodemus, that he sees in us, is, am I in? Have I done enough?
[00:01:33] You know that job interview where the candidate's resume is genuinely stacked, like it's incredible looking, and then somebody finally asked them to do the job, live in their room, and it turns out their resume and the actual skill weren't quite the same thing. Well, that's Nicodemus. Everything on paper said qualified.
[00:01:52] But Jesus says to him gently, that's not the category that we're working with tonight. So here's the question today. What's your version of Nicodemus's resume? Maybe it's church attendance, maybe it's, I've never really hurt anybody. Maybe it's just I tried hard. And trying hard has to count for something.
[00:02:11] You don't have to feel bad about naming whatever that resume item is. Good things aren't bad to have.
[00:02:18] Just be honest about what you've quietly been leaning on as your proof that you're okay. Because starting over was never something you could earn your way into. And that's not bad news. That's the door swinging open. Whatever's on your resume, it was never the category. Man. I hope this encourages you as you launch into your day. And I want to invite you back tomorrow because I want to tell you something really, really important about how you encounter a fresh start. Have a great day.
