John 3:20

"Look at it this way, Nicodemus," Jesus adds, "People who are accustomed to doing things their way, even if they are wrong, detest the light and will avoid it at all cost if for no other reason than they do not want their evil nature to be exposed." John 3:20 EFP

Wow!  That adds a new twist to the position being proposed.  I get it when Jesus says people who are simply comfortable going about their way of life, even their spiritual life, will refuse to unsettle it even if it means missing out on the gift of new life.  I can see myself in that condition, because at times my nature just doesn't want to be bothered.  I'm happy—content as is.  Things are doing fine.  I have a place to live.  I am surrounded by people who marginally like me; and some who actually love me.  I am gainfully employed.  Matters pertaining to a realm beyond the tangible are certainly unsettling, but only if I let them become so.  Sometimes the temptation is to let good enough alone is, well, too tempting.

But Jesus is calling Nicodemus to a higher level of existence.  He's calling me too.  And in doing so he is warning me there is a second and more sinister reason why some of us do not get in line for a hefty serving of "save me!"  This particular strain of salvation-resistant behavior is reserved for those who are already saturated with the religious jargon and tradition.  Jesus is talking to the Nicodemus lying in wait within me who knows the trappings of religion but who does not know God.  I know what to do, but I resist inner renewal.  I know the words of Scripture, but am unacquainted with the Word of Scripture.  I appear from the outside to have a connection with God, but I have not had an encounter with the Almighty that is not scripted and stale.

This condition leads to a religion of fear.  I am afraid my bankrupt spiritual condition will be exposed.  I fear our spiritual veneer will begin to show my shallowness.  I resist any attempt by the Spirit of God to reveal my need because it requires admitting the hypocrisy that sustains my existence.  Why would I want to unsettle the comfort of my spiritual status quo?  This is the most dangerous of all spiritual conditions.  It will destroy me from the inside out.  Life will be replaced by mere existence.  Ritualism will replace genuine experience.  Decorum will become a cheap substitute for worship. Light will not enter my dark world because I like it that way, and I don't want to be exposed for the shallow, scared, and pathetic hypocrite I have become. This is a warning worth heeding.