No Substitutes!

Jesus told a high-ranking Pharisee these words: “You must be born again.” Here was a guy with rank in his religious position, recognition by the public as a godly man, and a man who his own family would have considered him to have arrived in the religious world. After all he would have known the first five books of the Bible like the back of his hand. Even with all of this, Jesus gave him a qualification that he lacked. He needed a new heart, a heart born from above. The Jewish religious system leaned heavily on the “traditions of the Elders.” These traditions often trumped what the Bible said. The truth is there are no substitutes for what the Word declares. What in your life is being guided by something other than the Word?