“Christ is Born…Again!”

Religion

My three sons are now eighteen, sixteen, and eleven years of age, but I still remember the miracle of each of their births. What an amazing gift they were and are to me. The birth of Jesus was a different kind of miracle however. Christ’s birth was supernatural. For Jesus to be the perfect substitute and sacrifice for our sins, he had to be born without “fallen DNA,” the sinful nature passed on through the seed of man. “This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.” (Matt. 1:18 NIV)

You might say the first “eternal life” was born. Jesus, the Son of God, stepped out of eternity, lived among us, conquered death, and stepped back into eternity. I like to say that Jesus was like a shuttle and, by faith, we step into him to enjoy His eternal life.

In one of his days with us on earth, late into the evening under the cover of darkness, a highly respected religious man who was drawn to Jesus but didn’t want to be seen with him, approached Him with great curiosity. About Nicodemus, John 3:2-6 says, “He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. ” “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”

When I was eight years old, I responded to an “invitation” to make a “public profession” of my faith. For many years I may have described that day as the time I “got saved” or “gave my life to Jesus.” If I did give my life to Jesus then, I’m here to tell you today that I have taken it back many, many times since! I’m now 47 and it was when I was about 37 that I learned that I really didn’t give my life to Jesus. When I placed my faith in him, He gave His life to me!

Another way of saying, “You must be born again” is, again supernaturally by the Spirit, Christ must be born again in you!

A couple of years ago, I launched a counseling and discipleship ministry called Grace to Glory, after coming to the conclusion that most of us don’t realize what happened to us, or could happen to us, when we put our faith in Christ. I’m pretty sure that if you watched the movie of my life and I watched the movie of yours, we probably wouldn’t call each other “saints.” But if you and I have received Christ’s life and His Spirit lives in us, that’s what we are! If you will start thinking about yourself as a saint, not because of what you do, but because of what Christ has done, your behavior will begin to look more like Jesus, little by little by little. (And yes, sometimes it’s so little by little, you might not realizes you’re changing until you look back and see how different you’ve become.)

Realizing Christ has given us his life helps us to realize why the church is called His “body.” Talking about the church, the apostle Paul said in Colossians 1:25-29 said, “I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.”

Before you move on with your day, how about taking a few minutes to enjoy the fact that ever since you placed your faith in Jesus, you have been “perfect in Christ” in Christ. And as you take time to celebrate Christ being born over the next couple of weeks, don’t forget to celebrate and meditate on the reality that Christ has been born again…in you.

Jesus, thank you for coming and for giving us your life. We had no chance of being righteous and reconciled to your Father and ours until you gave us your righteousness. We feel strange thinking of ourselves as saints when we see sin still at work in us, but because of what you have accomplished, and because we are hidden in you, we are free from condemnation. You have freed us to love ourselves with our Fathers love and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Live your love and life through us today! Amen.

(If you are hungry to hear more about how Christ gave you his life, I highly recommend the book, The Rest of the Gospel by Dan Stone.)

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