"Give me your shoes...."

John 3:3
“Jesus said, `I tell you the truth. No person can see God's kingdom if he is not born again.' “

I thought of this verse this morning after attending a David Crowder Band worship event last night. My incredible wife, Maggie, took me there for an early birthday surprise. I am a huge David Crowder fan and the event was fantastic, but that’s not what this is about. During the service, Crowder stopped to read some signs that fans were holding up in the audience. One in particular caught his eye. It read, “Give me your shoes. It’s my B-day!”

Crowder, in all of his Crowder-ness, was wearing bright yellow sneakers. The kind that really stand out in a crowd. They were shoes that he said, “Give you sunshine from the ground up.” During this moment with the crowd, Crowder took off his shoes and gave them away, without thought or hesitation. In the process he told the story of how special they were to him. He told us all how he had purchased them in Hong Kong and has not been able to find a pair like them anywhere else on the face of the earth. What really struck me, however, was his willingness to surrender them without a fight, without a fee, without a trade.

As the night went on, and into this morning, I began to see a picture of Jesus in this Crowder moment. Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be “born again” in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. He (Jesus) went on to explain that this meant surrendering your old life to a new life for Him. At that moment in time, God gives you a new birthday. It’s the day you are born into the bloodline of Jesus Christ through His sacrifice and atonement on the Cross. On that day, Jesus Christ took off His shoes and freely gave them to us. In return, He wore our shoes and went to the cross in our place. Christ surrendered His glory for our birthday.

There is no where else on the face of this earth that you can receive such a gift. The gift of eternal life and salvation can only be found at the foot of the cross. It’s a priceless gift. It was given to us without a fight, without a fee, and without a trade. It’s the gift of Grace from Jesus Christ so that we can have the everlasting opportunity to walk in His shoes. While Crowder said his shoes are like the sun shining up on you, wearing Christ’s shoes allows the Son to shine upon you!