182 : THE NEW BIRTH.

 

into a new heart, which will lead us to do right. You
may think that it would be very hard to have this done.
Nicodemus thought so. He said to Jesus, “ How can these
things be?” Jesus plainly taught him it could be done,
but only by the Spirit of God.

Jesus told him that when the wind blows we do not
see it, but we feel it. So the Holy Spirit moves upon our
hearts, though we cannot see him, and changes them into _
new hearts, which will love him and love things pure and
holy.

Now, children, we cannot truly love God until we
- have this new heart; for the old heart is full of sin. We

have naughty thoughts, speak naughty words, do unkind
deeds, want our own way, and, it may be, indulge in feel-
ings of hatred. This is wrong. But with the new heart,
which Jesus gives, we shall want to do just what is right.
“We shall not only love God, but shall love to pray to him,
and love to read the Bible, that we may know how to
live to please Jesus.

But how may we have this new heart? By simply
looking to Jesus and trusting him to give it; just as the
children of Israel, looked to “the brazen serpent and were
healed, after they had been bitten by the fiery serpents.
This was a very simple way to be cured, but it was God’s
way. So it is God’s way for us to look to Jesus,.and the
only way we can be saved. Ask mamma to read to you
this story about the fiery serpents—Numbers, xxi. |