A Good Start

Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher;

for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him. John 3:2

Nicodemus didn’t get it exactly right about Jesus, but he was close. And for a guy who could have been very proud and arrogant, Nic got off to a really good start.

Nicodemus didn’t confess Jesus as God’s Son, but he gave him a ton of credit given that his colleagues were rejecting everything about Jesus. Nic humbled himself by going to Jesus and openly acknowledged that God’s hand and power were on him.

Again, that’s a really good start.

When we deal with people who don’t know Jesus, we need to acknowledge it when they get off to a good start.

I don’t know about you, but I have been guilty of making salvation an all-or-nothing deal when talking to unbelievers. I’ve often failed to give them credit for the huge steps they’ve taken for even being open to Jesus as someone of significance. And instead of acknowledging their good start and encouraging them to keep looking into Jesus, I’ve criticized their lack of insight.

Nicodemus didn’t get it immediately with Jesus. Few people do. And unless we’re trying to chase people away from Jesus, we need to be okay with that.

One of the things that twenty years of dealing with all sorts of atheists, agnostics, skeptics and explorers at ACF has taught me is that salvation is often a process. Sometimes it ends in a crescendo moment, but not always. Sometimes people just quietly come to believe in Jesus, and that process is very gradual.

Nicodemus was one of those people. When we first meet him in John, he’s not sure what to think of Jesus. But by the end of the Gospel, he’s all-in.

Friends, we don’t need to be threatened by people whose Jesus-theology isn’t fully baked. Don’t write them off. Rather, encourage them. Pray for them. Tell them to keep digging.

Good starts matter.

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