It's Not About Me!

What does “Born Again” Mean?

During the time of Jesus, Nicodemus was a Pharisee and also a member of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin – 70 religious leaders that were a highly respected legislative body headed by sages. Lately, Jesus had been getting a lot of attention from the common people due to the miracles he had performed and the Sanhedrin (as a governing body) did not like it. Nicodemus knew about the miracles that Jesus had done and wanted to talk to Jesus about it. He said to Jesus, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Then Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:1-11).

(Hover over the scripture verses to view them)

This statement by Jesus must have been both alarming and confusing to Nicodemus who then asked Jesus if he meant “born again” in a physical sense. Jesus replied that a person must be born in a physical sense and also born in a “spiritual sense” in order to see or enter the Kingdom of God.

So, what is being born in a spiritual sense about? To understand this we time-travel back to the Garden of Eden when God was laying out the rules for Adam’s habitat. “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen 2:16-17). Well, we know the story, Adam and Eve sinned and they were banished from the Garden but they didn’t die in a physical sense until later. So why did God say they would die “in that day?”

The fact is that they did die, not physically they died spiritually in their relationship with God. When you think about it, physical death is really an unequivocal separation. After Adam and Eve rebelled against God’s rules severing their relationship with Him, there were serious consequences that resulted. Before their rebellion, they didn’t need clothes (some have suggested that they had been clothed in light). After their rebellion, blood was shed in killing of animals to provide them appropriate coverings for their nakedness (The first example of sins being covered by spilled blood). Before, they walked and talked with their Creator and shared in the goodness and greatness of God’s garden. After, they were moved out of the garden and away from the presence of God, even their environment changed, becoming cursed. This “spiritual death” situation is also underscored in scripture where it is called the “second death.” Rev 2:11 – Rev 20:6 – Rev 20:14 and Rev 21:8. In this context, the first death is physical death and the “second death” is being ETERNALLY separated from God.

So here is how this effects us today. We who are fortunate enough to survive gestation and birth are alive physically, but, we arrive dead spiritually in our relationship with God. Our natural inclination toward evil is is seen in that children for the most part start off selfish, impatient, needy and greedy and have to be taught otherwise using teachable moments and discipline to encourage them into the right behavior and direction.

The born-again experience happens when a person willingly establishes and maintains a proper relationship with their Creator… His way. His Way is accepting the Lordship of His Son, Jesus, and believing in Him as our atoning sacrifice (the One who has paid the bill for our sins). The “proper” relationship is for us to acknowledge who we are (God’s creation) and who He is, (our Creator). Being born again is also inviting God’s Holy Spirit to reside within us.

What happens then? Would you feel it? Some people have experienced a supernatural joy and peace upon accepting God’s Spirit into their lives. I didn’t but wow, that was a long time ago when I was just a child. Some very beneficial things can and do happen though, here are just some.

• You will feel an intimacy with God in your prayers that you probably haven’t felt before.
  
• You will probably develop a different (less fear) perspective of sickness or death since you are in a right relationship with God.
  
• You will/should develop a hunger to know more about your Creator through reading His Word, the Bible. You may find that things you have read before in the Bible that made no sense, are now making sense.
  
• Through study, you will come to understand the extreme measures God has taken for mankind to save him and the love for us behind His motivation to save us.
  
• You will be developing a increased sensitivity to the sin/s in your life and a new-found motivation to make changes and live your life in a more God-pleasing way. Not because of a list of do’s and don’ts but because you love Him.
  
• You actually enjoy being with other believers, people you may have once even disdained.
  
• Your taste in music and other entertainments may drastically change.
  
• You will enjoy the material blessings you have but feel that “stuff” in general has less of a hold on you.
  
• You will feel sadness for those on judgment day that reject God and see fellow believers for what they are, saved sinners and broken people mended by Jesus.
  
• You will start to view what is going on in the world and in our society (with all its rebellion) through the lens of God’s Word and it will all start to make sense.
  
• Understanding more on your final home, you may daydream about what is ahead and the time that you get to see your Savior, face to face.
  
• You will understand the purpose of life… which is for us to love and appreciate Our Creator (give Him the credit) and live with Him forever in His Kingdom of righteousness. EVEN THOUGH WE DON’T HAVE TO.

Jesus said: …the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24)

The word Gospel means “Good news.” The good news of Christ is that He came and lived among mankind, He lived a perfect (sin free) life and died on a cross as the prophets said He would. Doing this, He took upon Himself the judgment of God for the sins of those that would put their trust in Him (Jesus) as their judgment replacement. On the third day, He came to life again, His sacrifice had been accepted, now it is up to you. Will you bend your will to what your Creator wants? He wants you to accept His free gift of eternal life, free for the asking.

True help and perspective in this life and eternal life with your Creator who loves you… what could be better? How to become “born-again?” It’s an easy leap of faith.

The Apostle Peter said: “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because “All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, But the word of the LORD endures forever. Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.” (1 peter 1:22-25).

In other words, we are here today and gone tomorrow. It makes sense to plan ahead, make today be your day of Salvation.

P.S. One great beneficial aspect of having the “knowledge of good and evil” is that the choice to love or not, is possible. If we were continuously in a state where evil didn’t exist, how could we express love? We couldn’t we would be robots having no choice. Blog post about Love.