by Pastor Joel Lawler

He was searching for something that he wasn't even sure existed. He really didn't even know what it was he was looking for.  Something was missing.  No matter how hard he tried to ignore it, the reality of this vacancy haunted him.  It shaded every aspect of his life with a gray hue.  It would not go away and it could not be silenced.  He was missing something and needed desperately to find it.

There was a street preacher who was causing quite a stir.  It was nearly impossible to be a part of any conversation where this preacher's name was not mentioned.  It was not unusual for this to be the case.  The celebrity status of preachers grow with their outlandish and sometimes garish lifestyles.  Almost without fail, they rise to fame and fortune and crash hard with the weight of a scandal tied around their neck.  They then become the punch line for the latest joke.

This preacher seemed different.  He traveled from town to town speaking of God's love and forgiveness.  He spoke of compassion for the less fortunate and followed it up by giving of himself in order to meet their needs. This preacher also did not have a huge building where he could house large crowds.  He took his message to the people where they were. Could this

preacher have the answer to what it was that he was missing? 

It would be risky for him to make contact with the preacher.  After all he was a church leader himself.  In fact he was a high ranking teacher in a group that publicly criticized and pronounced the street preacher as a fraud.  If it were known that he made contact with him, not only would his status at church be in jeopardy but it would be a black mark on him socially to be associated with this controversial figure.

No one and nothing else had helped.  He would go at night and meet with him in secret. The preacher spoke of something that was hard to understand and would require more than he could have ever imagined.  The preacher told him he had to be "born again."  This was not a new term to him.  His church taught of many new beginnings.  When a boy was considered a man he was "born again."  When a man married he was "born again". When a man reached forty years of age, he was "born again."  If he became a teacher in the church he had also been "born again."  All these events began a new life for those who

reached them.  He had attained them all and still found himself lacking.

This was something entirely different.  For all those significant events either came with age or could be achieved through effort and hard work.  This new beginning cannot be earned.  It is not inherited, achieved, nor is it innate. This is a call to admittance that we have failed in our own efforts and that we cannot meet the standards of God.  It requires us to ask God for forgiveness of where we have gone wrong.  It is accepting the freely given gift of reconciliation that is in spite of our own efforts and not a result of them.  It is an acknowledgment that our failing bore a terrible cost and it was paid for by the death of Jesus himself who took on the penalty of our rebellion upon himself.  We have to abandon any and all trust in our own efforts and place all of our faith in God.

He had lived a "good life" and achieved much. He had everything a man needs to be content but it was not enough. He was still missing something.  Could this preacher, this Jesus of Nazareth, be right?