Born again
1 Peter 1:23 For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.
Nicodemus, a very educated member of the Jewish ruling council in the time of Jesus, asked the question: But how can I, an old man, return to my mother’s womb and be born again? His problem was that he used his intellect, his natural thinking abilities, to try and reason out spiritual truths. A trap we all too often tend to fall in when we are faced with matters we do not understand – we quickly run to YouTube and search for videos by self-proclaimed ‘experts’ on the subject!
But Paul tells us that spiritual things cannot be understood by someone who does not have the Spirit:
1 Cor 2:14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
Being born again is one of those concepts that only Spirit-filled believers can understand. It happens when God imparts eternal life to the person who believes in the name of Jesus Christ, who then becomes a child of God, whose sins are forgiven and who then has a living relationship with God through the Spirit Who from then on dwells within them. According to Paul in 2 Cor 5:17, such a person is now a new creation. Children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God – as described in John 1:12-13. Born ‘from above’ as the Jewish-Greek word anôthen (used for ‘again’) more commonly refers to.
What does all this mean on a Monday morning? Well, firstly we must understand that we ourselves cannot contribute to this process to be born again – it is a work of the Holy Spirit. It is a supernatural action, without which we remain spiritually lifeless.
Here are a few ways to help me discern whether I am truly reborn and have started walking along the road which more and more leads to me giving my whole being over to the working of the Spirit in my life: Am I impacted by the words I read in the Bible, in other words, do they change my life? Is God Himself, and not just His gifts, now my heart’s desire? Is Jesus progressively revealed in my life in all His splendour and beauty, so that I delight in His goodness and obey Him joyfully? Is spiritual fruit visibly growing in my life – for example, has a love for my brothers and sisters in Christ increased dramatically within my heart?
Points to ponder:
If you have not done so yet, choose and follow Jesus as Christ, the Son of God, and accept His gift of life today. Has He become the treasure in the field for which you would sell everything?
Priscilla Koeglenberg
Feel free to email me at questions.powerhouse@gmail.com