A new craze was in town, seemingly normal people were becoming ‘born again’. They claimed to have received a new life in God. Former weekend party mates suddenly became church goers. One friend asked me if I believed in God. I said a vague ‘yes’ though I was in almost full scale rebellion agains the religion of my upbringing. A short while later, this friend had become ‘born again’. Their logic? If someone like myself could believe in God, why not they? Strange! But they preached at us assiduously, ‘you must be born again’.
In His infinite mercy God opened my heart to the Gospel years later as a young professional, and everything was different from then on. I also became ‘born again’ and received new life in God. I have spent my life drawing people to Christ since. And for them to live a full and fulfilled life in God, they need understanding of this great gift of God and the unquantifiable good God has done them. That is why I covered ten aspects of the new birth in my book REBORN A New Identity. And in a previous article, I posted the first part of chapter one of the book dealing with what it is to be born of God. Enjoy the second part.
New life in God
When you believed and prayed to receive Jesus, repenting of your past sins and committing to serve Him with your spirit, soul and body, you were born again. You are no longer ‘dead in your sins’. Your outward appearance may be the same, but make no mistake, you are what the Bible calls a new creation.
Remember, this is not about outward form, even though you will engage in seemingly religious activities like Bible reading, prayer, evangelism, etc. Rather, it is a giving of life, a supernatural transaction in the spirit realm. It is the act of salvation. What has happened to you? You are saved.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
It means that:
- Since the life of God is in you, you can have fellowship with God. You have also become more sensitive to His Spirit.
- You are united with Jesus by the Holy Spirit.
- You have gone from death to life.
- You have been transferred from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of God. You are now a child of light.
- Your destination is heaven and no longer hell. So, there is also a change in your eternal destination. You will be with God forever. When you die, you will go to heaven to be with God, albeit temporarily. At the end of the age, you will participate in God’s plan of creating a new heaven and a new earth.
- And you will be a part of the reign of God on the earth.
Don’t miss How to apprehend your new life in God (part one of this series)
Radical goodness
This is radical goodness! It is all yours freely in the new birth, but cost Jesus a great deal. As you continue your life in Jesus, you will meet many classes of people who refuse to accept His offer. Some will say they find it hard to believe because it is just too good to be true, or perhaps simply too good to be true for them because they are very bad people. Conversely, some believe they are too good to need it, and that it is too restrictive. They are convinced that all it takes is for people to do all the good they can and not harm anyone. Nicodemus arguably was a good man, but nevertheless, he needed to be born of God.
You are now born of God. You are no longer ‘dead in your sins’. Your outward appearance may be the same, but make no mistake- you are what the Book calls ‘a new creation’.
God has blessed you greatly by giving you this new life through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. It must remain precious to you. It is the greatest gift anyone can receive. So what do you do with this now?
WHAT DO I DO?
- Be grateful. Begin by thanking God every single day, and several times a day for this new life.
- Devour the Scriptures. Consume them as if they were going out of print. Some people will tell you to read a chapter a day; I suggest you read whole books a day. Develop a voracious appetite for God’s Word. There is more of this good fare in there. The more you engage with God’s Word from the word go, the more fulfilled your life in Christ will be.
- Enjoy being saved. Think about it a lot. Take time to read this book over and over again, and marvel at this new life you have received freely.
- Do not worry about all that is left to correct in your life. Do not condemn yourself. (See the chapter on forgiveness).
- Worship God. Let an endless stream of worship flow from you to God. You do know that you did not deserve any of this, do you not? It is He who is amazing. So tell Him so
The chapter then ends with Scriptures to meditate upon, a prayer and questions to ponder. You can read the full sample chapter on the Amazon page by clicking below.
[amazonjs asin=”B01CD8FQQE” locale=”US” title=”REBORN: A New Identity (Discipleship Book 1)”]
