Born Again

                                           ARE YOU WHAT YOU WERE CREATED TO BE?

                                                                     BY

                                                              ANN SULLIVAN

John 3: 6-7 says, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." The Living Bible says, "Men can only reproduce human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven."

What does it mean ‘to be born again'? Are there two births? How are they different?

The "first" birth is the physical birth when you were born into this world from your mother and father. A person automatically is self centered. A human's sinful nature becomes apparent at an early age. This explains the necessity of being born again not of a corruptible seed, but of an incorruptible seed. Man is a creature that needs to be saved. He is lost without knowing who he is meant to be. "Man is made for conversion as the duck is made for water, the bird made for air, the heart is made for love, and the aesthetic nature (says Stanley Jones) is made for beauty. When you are converted you find Christ, you find yourself, your Homeland." Morris says, "To be born of the flesh means to be content with what one can observe and control. Living in the flesh means making judgments on the basis of what one senses. Without Jesus Christ our spirit is dead in trespasses and sin. Salvation involves deliverance from the bondage of sin. Atonement is the restoring of a relationship between God and humanity. Repentance is dying to our old way of life. We ask God to forgive us of our sins, and let Jesus Christ take control to restore us to what we really are intended to be.

To be regenerated is to be born again. To be born again means to have the Holy Spirit come into our lives. Just as to be born of our parents means to have the life of our parents; to be born again means to have the life of God. Only through Jesus Christ does one have eternal life. A great work which God does in us is renewing our fallen nature.

"If I had to say in one sentence what my experience of being a Christian is (says Robert Laidlaw, author of the booklet The Reason Why), it would be quite simply a continuous consciousness of the presence of Christ in my life. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new," (2Corinthians 5: 17). "If any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His" (Romans 8: 9). Christianity is not getting more of the Holy Spirit, but He gets more of you.

I Thessalonians 5: 23 says, "And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." The Bible teaches that man is created in the image of God. God manifests Himself to mankind in the Persons of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Mankind is composed of a body, soul, and spirit. Our soul is composed of the heart (to feel), the mind (to think), and the will (to decide). We can only be complete through Jesus Christ. Put off the old man which is dead, and put on the new man which is alive in Christ.