The Way of the Wind

“The wind bloweth where it listeth…so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.”  

                                           Jno. 3:8                                                                  

 The month of March is known for its winds. This isn’t always the case, but this March has already got a good head start. I don’t mind it…to a point. A gentle breeze is a blessing, but wild gales can be down right scary.

The night that Nicodemus came to visit Jesus may well have been a balmy one with the night wind rustling through the palm trees. I say this because Jesus, ever quick to use parables from nature, compared the New Birth, being born of the Spirit of God, to the way of the wind. He offered four comparisons in verse eight of the third chapter of John, but it’s the first one that piqued my interest especially. Here’s why.

Reading in James recently, I was struck again by the words, “the perfect law of liberty” (1:25). They’re only found in this book, even saying that you and I will be “judged by the law of liberty” (2:12). But to me, this phrase has always been a paradox. Either you’re bound by law or at liberty to do as you please. But a “law” of liberty? Like many things in the Bible, however, I’m learning to trust God to show me in His own time, even if it’s in Heaven. J On this first day of March, I was thinking about wind, and this verse in John came to mind, and the thought occurred to me, “I wonder if my old “friend,” George H. Morrison (1866-1928), ever talked about this verse.” Sure enough, I did a little research, and found that he has an entire sermon on it. I only had to read the second paragraph to find an answer to my question.

Jesus said, “The wind bloweth where it listeth.” In other words, the wind blows where it pleases, enjoying perfect liberty. As Morrison says, “You can forge no chains that will confine it.” Yet, at the same time, the wind experiences (to quote Morrison) “a liberty based upon a reign of law—enjoyed in harmony with the whole scheme of nature—obedient to the great Creator’s purpose.” The wind’s freedom is not a lawless, irresponsible freedom. It is under the jurisdiction of a wise, and loving Creator. And, says Jesus, “so is everyone that is born of the Spirit of God.”

You and I, as Blood-bought New Testament believers, are “not under the law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:14). But in the next verse, he says, “Does that mean we’re free to sin?” then answering his own question: “God forbid.”  What it does mean is that we’re “free as the breeze,” free to do as we please; and the man or woman born of God’s Spirit will be pleased to please Him. Not held by any outward bondage, but moved by the principle of life—eternal life—within us.

It’s a law, my friend, not a natural law, but a supernatural one, “the perfect law of liberty,” and it’s the way of the wind!

When your ways please the Lord, you can do as you please.